Potential Impact of N6-Methyladenosine RNA Methylation on Vision Function and the Pathological Processes of Ocular Diseases: New Discoveries and Future Perspectives

Abstract

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation/modification plays a critical role in various biological processes through post-transcriptional ribonucleic acid (RNA) modification, which involves RNA processing, nuclear export, translation and decay. Functionally, m6A modification may be involved in ocular cell growth and differentiation, stem cell identity, development, haemostasis and innate versus adaptive immunity. Aberrations in m6A methylation may mediate numerous pathological conditions in the eye, including microorganism infection, inflammation, autoimmune disease, senescence, degeneration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, fibrosis, angiogenesis, tumorigenesis and complex eye diseases. In this review, we have discussed the relevance of m6A modification to precision medicine, stem cell directional differentiation, biomarkers of eye diseases and m6A methylation activators and inhibitors. In addition, we summarised the challenges and future research directions in the field related to visual function and eye diseases.

m6A modifications of circular RNAs in ischemia-induced retinal neovascularization

“…M 6 A modification, as an essential epigenetic regulator, has been suggested to involve in vision function and pathogenesis of ophthalmic diseases [24]. Recently, with the wide application of high-throughput sequencing technologies, there is accumulating evidence that crosstalk between m 6 A modifications and circRNAs contributes to multifaceted physiological and pathological processes [25,26].…”

Methylation in cornea and corneal diseases: a systematic review

“…The dynamic character of methylation is implied by the dynamic changes in methylation regulatory factors such UHRF1 and TET3 [ 66 , 154 ]. Regulatory molecules that maintain the dynamic balance of methylation (such as METTL3/FTO) are expressed in different tissues of the eye as well as in cornea [ 155 ]. Maintaining the equilibrium between methylation and demethylation is critical for proper cornea function.…”

An overview of the effects and mechanisms of m6 A methylation on innate immune cells in sepsis

“…As the study of epigenetic modifications develops in-depth, the critical role of epigenetic modifications in the early inflammatory response stage of sepsis has been highlighted. Epigenetic modifications refer to the transcription-related modifications on DNA and chromosome while the DNA sequence remains unchanged, which produces heritable phenotypic changes, including RNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA (7). N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) methylation modification, as the most common and reversible messenger RNA (mRNA) modification, has attracted considerable attention and become a new research hotspot in recent years (8).…”