fig4

Figure 4. Applications of ncRNAs in ICIs and immunotherapy. →: Solid arrows indicate positive regulation, activation, or promotion of downstream biological processes. ⊣: Blunt-ended lines represent inhibitory effects or negative regulation. --→: Dashed arrows indicate indirect regulation or putative mechanisms that are supported by existing evidence but not fully elucidated. ↔: Bidirectional arrows denote reciprocal interactions or feedback regulation. Color-coded elements are used to distinguish tumor cells, immune cells, ncRNAs, and therapeutic modalities, as indicated in each panel. Created in BioRender. Zhang, D. (2026) https://BioRender.com/cwgbqbd. ncRNAs: Non-coding RNAs; ICIs: immune checkpoint inhibitors; miRNA: microRNA; lncRNA: long non-coding RNA; circRNA: circular RNA; mRNA: messenger RNA; CAR-T: chimeric antigen receptor T cell; cRNA: complementary RNA; ESCC: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; PD-1: programmed cell death protein 1; INCR1: interferon-stimulated non-coding RNA 1; IL-12: interleukin-12; HIF-1α: hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; PD-L1: programmed cell death ligand 1; FUBP: far-upstream element-binding protein; c-Myc: myelocytomatosis oncogene; ceRNA: endogenous competing RNA; STAT3: signal transducer and activator of transcription 3.