Prognostic values of m6A RNA methylation regulators in differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent modification of RNA in mammals. m6A RNA methylation levels are dynamically regulated by m6A RNA methylation regulators. While increasing evidence has suggested that m6A RNA methylation is vital in the initiation and progression of human carcinoma, little is known about the expression and effect of m6A RNA methylation regulators in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Herein, we demonstrate that most of the thirteen main m6A RNA methylation regulators are differentially expressed in DTC tissues and normal thyroid tissues. Based on consensus clustering of m6A RNA methylation regulators, DTC cases were divided into two subgroups (TC1 and TC2). Compared with the TC1 subgroup, the TC2 subgroup was associated with a poorer prognosis, older age, higher T grade, higher N grade and higher TNM stage. The results indicated that alteration of m6A RNA methylation regulators was closely related to DTC. We further established a risk signature of four m6A RNA methylation regulators that could evaluate prognosis and clinicopathological features in DTC. Finally, the results of the TCGA analysis were verified by other cohorts from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. In conclusion, m6A RNA methylation regulators play a crucial part in the progression of DTC and are potentially useful for evaluating the prognosis and providing potential novel insights into treatment strategies.

M6A Demethylase FTO Plays a Tumor Suppressor Role in Thyroid Cancer

“…As shown in Figure 1, except the m6A-binding protein, YTHDF2, all other 13 m6A-associated factors were differentially expressed in thyroid cancer tissues ( p < 0.01). This result is consistent with previous research (Xu et al, 2020). Among these 13 m6A-associated factors, the expression levels of binding proteins, HNRNPC and methyltransferase METTL5, in thyroid cancer tissues were higher than those in adjacent nontumor tissues.…”

Recent advances in functional annotation and prediction of the epitranscriptome

“…Using similar pipeline, many studies have revealed the diagnostic and prognostic roles of m 6 A or other methylation (e.g., m 1 A) regulators in specific cancer including but not limited to hepatocellular carcinoma [162] , [163] , uveal melanoma [164] , prostate cancer [165] , gynecological cancers [166] , esophageal cancer [167] , thyroid carcinoma [168] and renal carcinoma [169] . Moreover, Meng et al have built the m 6 A-related mRNA signature to predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients [170] and predicted that PAH, ZPLD1, PPFIA3, and TNNT1 genes exhibited an independent prognostic value using correlation and survival analysis.…”

Identification of the EMT-Related Genes Signature for Predicting Occurrence and Progression in Thyroid Cancer

“…They established different immune-related signatures to predict the prognosis of patients with TC. The remaining thyroid prediction models mainly focused on the study of characteristic gene sets are mainly m6A-related signature 80 , 81 and autophagy-related signature. 82 These results indicate that the characteristic signature not only has a good prediction effect on the prognosis of thyroid cancer patients but is more conducive to the comprehensive interpretation of the occurrence and development of TC and provides a theoretical basis for the use of drugs that act on this characteristic.…”