Liu Wei, Zhong Cuiqing, Lv Deguan, Tang Mengjie, Xie Feng
Department of Pharmacy, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Center for Reproductive Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Front Genet. 2020 Aug 12;11:863. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00863. eCollection 2020.
Although it is widely accepted that N6-methyladenosine (mA) RNA methylation plays critical roles in tumorigenesis and progression, the values of mA modification are less known in hepatocellular carcinoma. The major purpose of our current studies is to investigate the role of mA regulators in hepatocellular carcinoma and whether it can affect the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Here we demonstrate that most of the mA regulators are highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, we cluster hepatocellular carcinoma into two subgroups (cluster 1/2) by applying consensus clustering to mA regulators. Compared with the cluster 1 subgroup, the cluster 2 subgroup was significantly associated with a higher pathological grade and survival. Based on these findings, we reveal a risk signature by using three mA regulators, which are not only an independent prognostic marker but also a predictor of the clinicopathological features in hepatocellular carcinoma. In conclusion, mA regulators are crucial participants in the malignant progression of hepatocellular carcinoma and are potential targets for prognosis.
尽管人们普遍认为N6-甲基腺嘌呤（mA）RNA甲基化在肿瘤发生和进展中起关键作用，但mA修饰在肝细胞癌中的价值却鲜为人知。我们当前研究的主要目的是探讨mA调节剂在肝细胞癌中的作用以及它是否会影响肝细胞癌的预后。在此我们证明，大多数mA调节剂在肝细胞癌中高表达。此外，我们通过对mA调节剂应用一致性聚类将肝细胞癌分为两个亚组（聚类1/2）。与聚类1亚组相比，聚类2亚组与更高的病理分级和生存率显著相关。基于这些发现，我们利用三种mA调节剂揭示了一种风险特征，这不仅是一个独立的预后标志物，也是肝细胞癌临床病理特征的预测指标。总之，mA调节剂是肝细胞癌恶性进展的关键参与者，也是预后的潜在靶点。
