Deciphering the role of NcRNAs in Pancreatic Cancer immune evasion and drug resistance: a new perspective for targeted therapy

Front Immunol. 2024 Nov 1:15:1480572. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1480572. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a very aggressive digestive system tumor, known for its high mortality rate, low cure rate, low survival rate and poor prognosis. In particular, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PADC), which accounts for more than 90% of PC cases, has an overall 5-year survival rate of only 5%, which is an extremely critical situation. Early detection and effective treatment of PC is extremely difficult, which leads many patients to despair. In the current medical context, targeted therapy, as an important strategy for cancer treatment, is expected. However, the problems of immune escape and drug resistance in PC have become two major obstacles that are difficult to be overcome by targeted therapy. How to break through these two difficulties has become a key issue to be solved in the field of PC therapy. In recent years, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have continued to heat up in the field of cancer research. NcRNAs play a pivotal role in gene regulation, cell differentiation, development, and disease processes, and their important roles in the genesis, development, and therapeutic response of PC have been gradually revealed. More importantly, ncRNAs have many advantages as therapeutic targets, such as high specificity and low side effects, making them a new favorite in the field of PC therapy. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to provide new ideas and methods for the targeted therapy of PC by reviewing the mechanism of action of four major ncRNAs (circRNAs, lncRNAs, miRNAs, siRNAs) in both immune escape and drug resistance of PC. It is expected that an effective way to overcome immune escape and drug resistance can be found through in-depth study of ncRNA, bringing a ray of hope to PC patients.

Keywords: ncRNA; pancreatic cancer; targeted therapy; tumor immune microenvironment; tumor-immune interactions.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / drug therapy
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / genetics
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / immunology
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / therapy
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Immune Evasion
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / immunology
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms* / therapy
  • RNA, Untranslated* / genetics
  • Tumor Escape* / drug effects

Substances

  • RNA, Untranslated

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Key Research and Development Project of the Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province (Nos.2023YFQ0101), and was supported by Luzhou Key Research and Development Project in Science and Technology (2022-SYF-55).