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Review
. 2019 May 29;18(1):103.
doi: 10.1186/s12943-019-1033-z.

The role of m6A RNA methylation in human cancer

Xiao-Yu Chen  1 , Jing Zhang  2 , Jin-Shui Zhu  3
Affiliations
Review

The role of m6A RNA methylation in human cancer

Xiao-Yu Chen et al. Mol Cancer. .

Abstract

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is identified as the most common, abundant and conserved internal transcriptional modification, especially within eukaryotic messenger RNAs (mRNAs). M6A modification is installed by the m6A methyltransferases (METTL3/14, WTAP, RBM15/15B and KIAA1429, termed as "writers"), reverted by the demethylases (FTO and ALKBH5, termed as "erasers") and recognized by m6A binding proteins (YTHDF1/2/3, IGF2BP1 and HNRNPA2B1, termed as "readers"). Acumulating evidence shows that, m6A RNA methylation has an outsize effect on RNA production/metabolism and participates in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases including cancers. Until now, the molecular mechanisms underlying m6A RNA methylation in various tumors have not been comprehensively clarified. In this review, we mainly summarize the recent advances in biological function of m6A modifications in human cancer and discuss the potential therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: Cancer; Growth; Metastasis; N6-methyladenosine; Prognosis; RNA methylation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Molecular composition of m6A RNA methylation. M6A methylation is a dynamic and reversible process coordinated by a series of methyltransferases (METTL3/14, WTAP, RBM15/15B, and KIAA1429, termed as “m6A writers”), demethylases (FTO and ALKBH5, “m6A erasers”) and identifiers (YTHDF1/2/3, YTHDC1, HNRNPA2B1, HNRNPC, eIF3, FMR1, and LRPPRC, “m6A. ‘Readers”)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Regulatory Functions of m6A modification in RNA splicing, processing, translation and degradation. M6A RNA modification is involved in regulating the life cycle of RNA including RNA splicing (regulated by WTAP, FTO, ALKBH5 and YTHDC1), RNA processing (regulated by METTL3/14 and ALKBH5), RNA translation (regulated by METTL3, YTHDF1/3, eIF3 and FMR1) and RNA degradation (regulated by YTHDF2)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The role of m6A RNA modification in human cancer. M6A RNA modification is associated with the tumorigenesis of multiple malignancies including AML, GBM, HCC, CRC, NPC, breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer and endometrial cancer
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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