# Exploiting public genomic and transcriptomic data to uncover cancer-RNA editing relationships

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2022 · $390,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
This project aims to better understand the regulation and function of RNA editing in cancer
through analysis of existing omics data sets. RNA editing is a prevalent type of RNA
modification where the RNA sequences are altered through insertion, deletion or substitution of
nucleotides. In mammals, the most common type of RNA editing is adenosine to inosine (A-to-I)
editing. Catalyzed by the ADAR enzymes, A-to-I editing is the most prevalent type of RNA
editing in human, occurring in the majority of human transcripts. In the past few decades, great
progress was made to understand the critical function of a small number of A-to-I editing sites in
cancer-related genes, most of which alter protein-coding sequences. Owing to the recent
advances in RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) technologies and bioinformatic methodologies, an
unprecedented number of A-to-I editing sites have been cataloged for various organisms.
Importantly, widespread aberrant RNA editing has been reported in a number of cancer types.
In addition, increasing evidence supports that ADAR and RNA editing levels are associated with
patient survival or response to therapy. However, many questions remain, the most significant
ones including the unclear mechanisms through which ADAR and RNA editing contribute to
cancer-related pathways and the unknown regulatory mechanisms underlying aberrant RNA
editing in cancer. In this project, we propose to extend our recent successes at developing and
applying bioinformatic approaches in RNA editing studies to address the above challenges. We
will capitalize on the large collection of RNA-seq data sets derived from different types of cancer
samples. We will develop and apply novel methodologies to make full use of these data sets,
complemented by further bioinformatic prediction and experimental validations, to predict and
validate the molecular function of RNA editing and related regulatory mechanisms. This work
will allow a previously unattained level of understanding of the molecular basis of RNA editing
and provide new insights to the involvement of RNA editing in human cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10453867
- **Project number:** 1R01CA262686-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Xinshu Grace Xiao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $390,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10453867

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10453867, Exploiting public genomic and transcriptomic data to uncover cancer-RNA editing relationships (1R01CA262686-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10453867. Licensed CC0.

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