Role of N6-methyladenosine modification in cancer

Abstract

As the most abundant internal modification in eukaryotic messenger RNAs identified, N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) has been shown recently to play essential roles in various normal bioprocesses. Evidence is emerging that m⁶A modification and its regulatory proteins also play critical roles in various cancers including leukemia, brain tumor, breast cancer and lung cancer, etc. For instance, FTO, the first m⁶A demethylase identified, has been reported recently to play an oncogenic role in leukemia and glioblastoma. ALKBH5 (another m⁶A demethylase) has been reported to exert a tumor-promoting function in glioblastoma and breast cancer. METTL3 (a major m⁶A methyltransferase) likely plays distinct roles between glioblastoma and lung cancer. Here we discuss the recent progress and future prospects in study of m⁶A machinery in cancer.