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Research Paper|Volume 16, Issue 1|pp 89—105

Characterization of m6A methylation modifications in gastric cancer

Wei Yin1, Zhanwei Huo2, Jiawei Zuo3, Haixiao Wang4, Bi Chen5, Liqing Zhou3
  • 1Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huai’an Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University and The Second People’s Hospital of Huai’an, Huai’an 223300, Jiangsu, China
  • 2Department of General Surgery, Lianshui People’s Hospital Affiliated to Kangda College of Nanjing Medical University, Huai’an 223300, Jiangsu, China
  • 3Department of Radiotherapy, The Affiliated Huai’an Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University and The Second People’s Hospital of Huai’an, Huai’an 223300, Jiangsu, China
  • 4Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Huai’an No. 1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai’an 223300, Jiangsu, China
  • 5Department of Rehabilitation, Geriatric Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Official Hospital, Nanjing 210000, Jiangsu, China
* Equal contribution
Received: August 6, 2023Accepted: November 6, 2023Published: January 10, 2024
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205341

Copyright: © 2024 Yin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Widely recognized as an essential epitranscriptomic modification, RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is involved in both physiological and pathological processes. Here, we want to investigate m6A modification’s potential roles in gastric cancer. Gastric cancer samples were selected from TCGA-STAD and GEO (GSE84426, GSE84433) datasets. Based on 18 regulators of m6A, m6A modification patterns were thoroughly evaluated in gastric cancer samples. Principal component analysis algorithms were used to construct the m6Ascore, using which, m6A modification features in tumor somatic mutations and immune checkpoint blockade therapy were analyzed. 34 gastric cancer samples were collected to verify the effectiveness of the m6Ascore. Here, we determined three different m6A modification patterns. m6Acluster-C modification pattern presented immune activation-associated enrichment pathways and have significant survival advantages. Then, in gastric cancer, m6Ascore could act as an independent prognostic biomarker. A significant survival benefit was exhibited in patients with high m6Ascore. Moreover, the modification signature of m6A uncovered in this study would help to predict immune checkpoint blockade therapy’s responses. In conclusion, our discoveries all pointed to the fact that modification patterns of m6A were linked to the TME. Moreover, evaluation of individual tumor’s m6A modification pattern will help to guide immunotherapy strategies that shows more therapeutic effects.