N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification in gastrointestinal tract cancers: roles, mechanisms, and applications

• Published in: Molecular cancer Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Hu, Bin-bin, Wang, Xiao-yan, Gu, Xu-Yu, Zou, Chen, Gao, Zhen-jun, Zhang, Heng, Fan, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 07.12.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Antisense RNA; Binding proteins; Cancer; Cancer research; Chromatin; Decitabine; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Development and progression; DNA; DNA methylation; DNA sequencing; Enzymes; Epigenetic inheritance; Epigenetics; Gastrointestinal system; Gastrointestinal tract; Gene expression; Genetic research; Homology; Liver cancer; Mammals; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Methylation; Methyltransferases; MicroRNAs; Mortality; N6-methyladenosine; Phenotypes; Protein binding; Proteins; Pyrimidines; Review; RNA; RNA modification; Roles; Tumors; Writers
• ISSN: 1476-4598; 1476-4598
• DOI: 10.1186/s12943-019-1099-7

Analogous to DNA methylation and histone modification, RNA modification, as another epigenetic layer, plays an important role in many diseases, especially in tumours. As the most common form of RNA modification, m 6 A methylation has attracted increasing research interest in recent years. m 6 A is catalysed by RNA methyltransferases METTL3, METTL14 and WTAP (writers), m 6 A is removed by the demethylases FTO and ALKBH5 (erasers) and interacts with m6A-binding proteins, such as YT521-B homology (YTH) domain-containing proteins. This article reviews recent studies on methylation modification of m 6 A in gastrointestinal tract cancers.