Reduced m 6 A mRNA methylation is correlated with the progression of human cervical cancer.

The m6 A mRNA methylation involves in mRNA splicing, degradation and translation. Recent studies have revealed that reduced m6 A mRNA methylation might promote cancer development. However, the role of m6 A mRNA methylation in cervical cancer development remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the role of m6 A methylation in cervical cancer in the current study. We first evaluated the m6 A mRNA methylation level in 286 pairs of cervical cancer samples and their adjacent normal tissues by dot blot assay. Then the role of m6 A on patient survival rates and cervical cancer progression were assessed. The m6 A level was significantly reduced in the cervical cancer when comparing with the adjacent normal tissue. The m6 A 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 m6 A level via manipulating the m6 A regulators expression promoted cervical cancer cell proliferation. And increasing m6 A level significantly suppressed tumor development both in vitro and in vivo . Our results showed that the reduced m6 A level is tightly associated with cervical cancer development and m6 A mRNA methylation might be a potential therapeutic target in cervical cancer.