Reduced m6A mRNA methylation is correlated with the progression of human cervical cancer

Abstract

The m⁶A mRNA methylation involves in mRNA splicing, degradation and translation. Recent studies have revealed that reduced m⁶A mRNA methylation might promote cancer development. However, the role of m⁶A mRNA methylation in cervical cancer development remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the role of m⁶A methylation in cervical cancer in the current study. We first evaluated the m⁶A mRNA methylation level in 286 pairs of cervical cancer samples and their adjacent normal tissues by dot blot assay. Then the role of m⁶A on patient survival rates and cervical cancer progression were assessed. The m⁶A level was significantly reduced in the cervical cancer when comparing with the adjacent normal tissue. The m⁶A level reduction was significantly correlated with the FIGO stage, tumor size, differentiation, lymph invasion and cancer recurrence. It was also shown to be an independent prognostic indicator of disease-free survival and overall survival for patients with cervical cancer. Reducing m⁶A level via manipulating the m⁶A regulators expression promoted cervical cancer cell proliferation. And increasing m⁶A level significantly suppressed tumor development both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. Our results showed that the reduced m⁶A level is tightly associated with cervical cancer development and m⁶A mRNA methylation might be a potential therapeutic target in cervical cancer.