Toxicological Implications of m6A Dysregulation: SH3PXD2A-AS1-Driven PD-L1 Overexpression Promotes Immune Evasion in NSCLC.

The lncRNA SH3PXD2A-AS1 drives therapy resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through m6A-mediated PD-L1 overexpression, representing a novel molecular toxicology paradigm. In the present work, the functional significance of SH3PXD2A-AS1 in orchestrating immune escape and malignant progression of NSCLC was systematically examined. Integrating TCGA analyses with cell and mouse studies, we found that SH3PXD2A-AS1 was elevated in NSCLC and associated with features of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Multi-omics profiling, RNA pull-down/RIP, and promoter-reporter assays revealed that SH3PXD2A-AS1 interacts with the transcription factor MYBL2 to drive transcriptional activation of WTAP, a core component of the m6A writer complex. This axis enhanced m6A modification of PD-L1 mRNA, stabilizing PD-L1 and dampening CD8+ T-cell responses. Silencing SH3PXD2A-AS1 reduced MYBL2/WTAP/PD-L1 signaling, decreased malignant phenotypes in vitro, and restored antitumor T-cell activity in humanized mouse models, whereas enforced MYBL2 or WTAP expression counteracted these effects. Collectively, these findings define an lncRNA-transcription factor-epitranscriptomic checkpoint that sustains PD-L1-mediated immune escape in NSCLC, and nominate SH3PXD2A-AS1 and its MYBL2/WTAP partners as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve responses to immune checkpoint inhibition.
Cancer
Chronic respiratory disease
Policy

Authors

Wu Wu, Chen Chen, Han Han, Dong Dong, Shi Shi, Liu Liu, Chen Chen, Yuan Yuan, Cui Cui
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