Study examines m6A regulators and m6A-related genes through integrated bioinformatic analysis

Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this article the authors Jingdun Xie, Zhenhua Qi, Xiaolin Luo, Fang Yan, Wei Xing, Weian Zeng, Dongtai Chen and Qiang Li; from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China discuss integration analysis of m6A regulators and m6A-related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation of eukaryotic mRNA is involved in the progression of various tumors. This study comprehensively analyzed m6A regulators and m6A-related genes through an integrated bioinformatic analysis, including expression, clustering, protein-protein interaction, and prognosis, thus providing novel insights into the roles of m6A regulators and m6A-related genes in HCC.

192 candidate m6A-related genes and 3 m6A regulators, including YTHDF1, YTHDF2, and YTHDC1 were obtained. The expression of these genes and regulators differed significantly in different stages of HCC. Based on Cox regression analysis, 19 of 98 m6A-related prognostic genes were obtained to construct a risk score model.

The 1- and 3-year area under the curves (AUCs) among HCC patients were greater than 0.7. Based on analysis of mutation differences between high- and low-risk score groups, the authors determined that TP53 had the highest mutation frequency in the high-risk HCC patient group, whereas titin (TTN) had the highest mutation frequency in the low-risk HCC patient group.