M6A modification of RNA and its role in cancer, with a special focus on lung cancer

Abstract

Epitranscriptomics involves functionally relevant biochemical modifications of RNA taking place at the transcriptome level without a change in the sequence of ribonucleotides. Several types of modifications that affect the processing and function of differentRNA types have been reported. Methylation at N6 of Adenosine called m6A is one such modification, quite widespread in occurrence and reported in snRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, rRNAs, miRNAs, and most abundantly, in mRNAs. The significant implications of m6A in various types of cancers are being widely recognized. Here, we give a brief about the enzymes that install the m6A modification (= m6A writers), that remove it (= m6A erasers) and certain RNA binding proteins (= m6A readers) which affect the fate of the m6A-containing RNA by recruiting various proteins. We also discuss the relevance of m6A in ncRNAs in various cancer types, followed by a discussion on the role of m6A of mRNA and ncRNA in lung cancer.