Molecular mechanisms of non-genetic aberrant peptide production in cancer.

Abstract

The cancer peptidome has long been known to be altered by genetic mutations. However, more recently, non-genetic polypeptide mutations have also been related to cancer cells. These non-genetic mutations occur post-t30ranscriptionally, leading to the modification of the peptide primary structure, while the corresponding genes remain unchanged. Three main processes participate in the production of these aberrant proteins: mRNA alternative splicing, mRNA editing, and mRNA aberrant translation. In this review, we summarize the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes and the recent findings on the functions of the aberrant proteins, as well as their exploitability as new therapeutic targets due to their specific enrichment in cancer cells. These non-genetic aberrant polypeptides represent a source of novel cancer cell targets independent from their level of mutational burden, still to be exhaustively explored.