The Regulators Associated With N6-Methyladenosine in Lung Adenocarcinoma and Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma Reveal New Clinical and Prognostic Markers.

Shuzhen Tan,Guosheng Liang,Jianhao Kang,Zhilin Zou,Zhenye Tang,Yingqi Li,Kai Li,Wenqing Chen,Xiao Zhu,Guoliang Pi,Minhua Li,Zesong Li

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.741521

Abstract

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation is of significant importance in the initiation and progression of tumors, but how specific genes take effect in different lung cancers still needs to be explored. The aim of this study is to analyze the correlation between the m6A RNA methylation regulators and the occurrence and development of lung cancer. The data of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) were obtained through the TCGA database. We systematically analyzed the related pathological characteristics and prognostic factors by applying univariate and multivariate Cox regression, as well as LASSO Cox regression. Some of 23 m6A regulators are identified as having high expression in lung cancer. In addition, risk score has been shown to be an independent prognostic factor in lung cancer. Our research not only fully reveals that m6A regulators and clinical pathological characteristics are potentially useful with respect to survival and prognosis in different lung tumors but also can lay a theoretical root for the treatment for lung cancer—notably, to point out a new direction for the development of treatment.

Highlights

IntroductionM6A methylation, as a dynamic reversible process, is regulated by three enzymes: demethylase (erasers), function manager (readers), and methyltransferase complex (writers) (Yang et al, 2018; Zhou et al, 2020)
M6A methylation, as a dynamic reversible process, is regulated by three enzymes: demethylase, function manager, and methyltransferase complex (Yang et al, 2018; Zhou et al, 2020)
We drew a heatmap of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), and pan-cancer data after diff analysis firstly

Summary

Introduction

M6A methylation, as a dynamic reversible process, is regulated by three enzymes: demethylase (erasers), function manager (readers), and methyltransferase complex (writers) (Yang et al, 2018; Zhou et al, 2020). Erasers include FTO and ALKBH5 (Li et al, 2017); readers include YTHDC1, YTHDC2, YTHDF1, YTHDF2, and HNRNPC (Zhang et al, 2019; He et al, 2020); and writers include MTETL3, METTL14, WTAP, KIAA1429, RBM15, and ZC3H13 (Tuncel and Kalkan, 2019; Asada et al, 2020). It is these m6A methylation regulators that are closely correlated with different human diseases, especially with cancer (Wang et al, 2018). They achieve the purpose of adjusting the differentiation of cancer stem cells and regulating T cell differentiation and immune homeostasis

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