Department of Gastroenterology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, P.R. China.
Int J Oncol. 2023 Jan;62(1). doi: 10.3892/ijo.2022.5452. Epub 2022 Nov 11.
Pancreatic cancer (PC) ranks as the seventh leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality, and is predicted to become the third leading cause of cancer‑associated mortality by the year 2025. Although advanced modalities of diagnosis and treatment have been continuously emerging, the mortality rate (466,003) approximated to that of the morbidity rate (495,773) in 2020. N‑methyladenosine (mA) has been shown to be methylated on the sixth N atom of adenine in RNA, which occurs co‑transcriptionally and serves to regulate gene expression post‑transcriptionally. The discovery of mA has heralded a new era in the scientific investigation of PC. In the present review article, the classical conception of mA and emerging hypotheses regarding its role are summarized, and the function of mA in carcinogenesis and progression of PC is then discussed, followed by the potential roles of mA in the diagnosis of PC and in therapeutic applications. However, this new era is only at the initial stages, and the extent to which mA influences PC is still poorly understood. In view of this, the present review article also summarizes the developments at the frontier of the interaction between mA and PC, and discusses strategies through which mA may provide a promising avenue for anticancer therapy.
胰腺癌（PC）是癌症相关死亡率的第七大主要原因，预计到 2025 年将成为癌症相关死亡率的第三大主要原因。尽管不断出现先进的诊断和治疗方式，但 2020 年的死亡率（466,003）接近发病率（495,773）。已证实 N6-甲基腺苷（m6A）在 RNA 中的腺嘌呤的第六个 N 原子上发生甲基化，该过程发生在共转录过程中，用于调节转录后基因表达。m6A 的发现标志着 PC 科学研究的新时代的到来。在本综述文章中，总结了 m6A 的经典概念和关于其作用的新兴假说，并讨论了 m6A 在胰腺癌的发生和进展中的功能，然后讨论了 m6A 在胰腺癌诊断和治疗应用中的潜在作用。然而，这个新时代才刚刚开始，m6A 对 PC 的影响程度仍知之甚少。有鉴于此，本综述文章还总结了 m6A 与 PC 相互作用的前沿发展，并讨论了通过 m6A 可能为癌症治疗提供有前途途径的策略。
