M6A RNA methylation regulators predict prognosis and indicate characteristics of tumour microenvironment infiltration in acute myeloid leukaemia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) have poor prognoses and low overall survival (OS) rates owing to its heterogeneity and the complexity of its tumour microenvironment (TME). N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification plays a key role in the initiation and progression of haematopoietic malignancies. However, the underlying function of m6A regulators in AML remains elusive. This study thoroughly analysed the m6A modification features of 177 AML patients based on 22 m6A regulators. Utilizing unsupervised clustering, we determined three distinct m6A modification patterns related to different biological functions, TME cell-infiltrating characteristics and clinical outcomes. Additionally, a risk score was constructed based on six m6A regulators-associated prognostic signatures and was validated as an independent and valuable prognostic factor for AML. Patients with a low-risk score exhibited better survival than those with a high-risk score. Many m6A regulators were aberrantly expressed in AML, among which METTL14, YTHDC2, ZC3H13 and RBM15 were observed to be associated with the OS of AML. In addition, these four m6A regulators were found to be noticeably related to the immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatments. Finally, we verified the expression levels of these four m6A regulators in AML and healthy samples and three groups of AML patients with different risk categories. Collectively, our study indicates that the m6A modification pattern is involved in TME immune-infiltrating characteristics and prognosis in AML. A better understanding of the m6A modification pattern will help enhance our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of AML and develop potential prognosis prediction indicators and more effective immunotherapeutic strategies.