Dataset Information

Effects of RNA methylation N6-methyladenosine regulators on malignant progression and prognosis of melanoma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Melanoma is an extremely aggressive type of skin cancer and experiencing a expeditiously rising mortality in a current year. Exploring new potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets of melanoma are urgently needed. The ambition of this research was to identify genetic markers and assess prognostic performance of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) regulators in melanoma.

Methods

Gene expression data and corresponding clinical informations of melanoma patients as well as sequence data of normal controls are collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis was carried out to detect the RNA expression of IGF2BP3 in A375 cell line, melanoma tissues, and normal tissues. Western blot, cell proliferation, and migration assays were performed to assess the ability of IGF2BP3 in A375 cell line.

Results

Differently expressed m6A regulators between tumor samples and normal samples were analyzed. A three-gene prognostic signature including IGF2BP3, RBM15B, and METTL16 was constructed, and the risk score of this signature was identified to be an independent prognostic indicator for melanoma. In addition, IGF2BP3 was verified to promote melanoma cell proliferation and migration in vitro and associate with lymph node metastasis in clinical samples. Moreover, risk score and the expression of IGF2BP3 were positively associated with the infiltrating immune cells and these hub genes made excellent potential drug targets in melanoma.

Conclusion

We identified the genetic changes in m6A regulatory genes and constructed a three-gene risk signature with distinct prognostic value in melanoma. This research provided new insights into the epigenetic understanding of m6A regulators and novel therapeutic strategies in melanoma.

SUBMITTER: Liu J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8393813 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:N6‑methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation is the most prevalent type of mRNA modification; however, little is known about its function in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The present study aimed to establish and validate a m6A‑related risk signature as a prognostic factor for patients with ccRCC. Consensus clustering was used to divide patients with ccRCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort (n=489) into three clusters (cluster 1/2/3) based on 19 m6A RNA methylation regulators. In addition, a m6A‑related risk signature was constructed using TCGA data, and its accuracy was validated using data from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (n=91). The prognostic performance of the risk signature was evaluated by Kaplan‑Meier analyses, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression, multivariate Cox regression, receiver operating characteristic curves and nomograms. The results revealed that the majority of the 19 m6A RNA methylation regulators were differentially expressed among ccRCC stratified by different clinicopathological features. The cluster 1 group exhibited a higher frequency of metastasis and poorer overall survival compared with the cluster 2/cluster 3 group. The hallmarks of RNA metabolism, transcription misregulation in cancer and regulation of autophagy, were significantly enriched in the cluster 1 group. A m6A‑related risk signature was constructed and validated with high prognostic accuracy for the prediction of 5‑year survival and recurrence (area under the curve, 0.736 and 0.728, respectively). The present study also established robust nomograms for evaluating the risk of mortality and recurrence for patients with ccRCC (c‑index, 0.783 and 0.819, respectively). The dysregulation of hub m6A RNA methylation regulator expression levels and m6A RNA methylation levels were also validated in multiple RCC cells using in vitro experiments. Taken together, the m6A RNA methylation regulators promoted the malignant progression of ccRCC and exhibited good performance in prognostic predictions. These results provided insight into the development of m6A‑targeted treatments for ccRCC.