Cellular pathways influenced by protein arginine methylation: Implications for cancer

Arginine methylation is an influential post-translational modification occurring on histones, RNA binding proteins, and many other cellular proteins, affecting their function by altering their protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions. Recently, a wealth of information has been gathered, implicating protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs), enzymes that deposit arginine methylation, in transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, DNA damage signaling, and immune signaling with major implications for cancer therapy, especially immunotherapy. This review summarizes this recent progress and the current state of PRMT inhibitors, some in clinical trials, as promising drug targets for cancer. In this review, Xu and Richard describe molecular and cellular pathways influenced by arginine methylation, including transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, DNA damage, and immune signaling. They summarize recent advances with protein arginine methyltransferase inhibitors in clinical trials and their use for cancer therapy, especially immunotherapy.