In this Research Highlight, we summarized the results from a study by Wu et al. published in Nature Cell Biology which uncovered that asparagine (Asn), a non-essential amino acid in mammalians, is able to enhance the TCR-mediated activation and efficacy of CD8⁺ T cells towards tumour through lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (LCK) signalling. This study provides insights into the physiological function of Asn in T cell activation and effector functions, showing the encouraging possibility of key metabolites for empowering cancer immunotherapy.

As one of the best studied ribonucleic acid (RNA) modifications in eukaryotes, N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) plays a predominant role in controlling gene expression and further influences physiological and pathological processes, including oncogenesis and tumor progression. Here we review the functions of m⁶A and its regulators in RNA metabolism control, their oncogenic or tumor suppressive roles in diverse malignancies, as well as the application of m⁶A methylation in cancer diagnosis and therapeutics.

Our data suggested that m5C may play a critical role in hypoxia/glycolysis network and targeting HIF-1α/ALYREF/PKM2 signaling may be a promising therapeutic strategy to treat bladder cancer.

YB1 regulates miR-205/200b-ZEB1 axis by inhibiting microRNA maturation.

We reported the dual function of LINC00525 in fine-tuning p21 production at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. We suggest that LINC00525 may represent a potential therapeutic target for clinical intervention in lung adenocarcinoma.

1. Mammalian FAM46C is a unique non-canonical poly(A) polymerase (PAP) with a bacterial-like protein fold.
2. FAM46C differs from its homolog FAM46B in PAP activity due to the divergence of amino acid residues at several critical sites.
3. The structural-functional characterization of MM-related FAM46C mutations that may be used for prognosis in the future.