posted on 2024-11-01, 07:21authored byShiyan Wang, Yong Zeng, Lin Zhu, Min Zhang, Lei Zhou, Weixiong Yang, Weishan Luo, Lina Wang, Yanming Liu, Helen Zhu, Xin Xu, Peiran Su, Xinyue Zhang, Musaddeque Ahmed, Wei Chen, Moliang Chen, Sujun Chen, Mykhaylo Slobodyanyuk, Zhongpeng Xie, Jiansheng Guan, Wen Zhang, Aafaque Ahmad Khan, Shingo Sakashita, Ni Liu, Nhu-An Pham, Paul C. Boutros, Zunfu Ke, Michael F. Moran, Zongwei Cai, Chao Cheng, Jun Yu, Ming S. Tsao, Housheng H. He
Characteristics of m6A peaks and methodological comparison for m6A level calculation.
Funding
Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (PMCF)
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI)
History
ARTICLE ABSTRACT
Comprehensive N6-methyladenosine (m6A) epitranscriptomic profiling of primary tumors remains largely uncharted. Here, we profiled the m6A epitranscriptome of 10 nonneoplastic lung tissues and 51 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tumors, integrating the corresponding transcriptomic, proteomic, and extensive clinical annotations. We identified distinct clusters and genes that were exclusively linked to disease progression through m6A modifications. In comparison with nonneoplastic lung tissues, we identified 430 transcripts to be hypo-methylated and 222 to be hyper-methylated in tumors. Among these genes, EML4 emerged as a novel metastatic driver, displaying significant hypermethylation in tumors. m6A modification promoted the translation of EML4, leading to its widespread overexpression in primary tumors. Functionally, EML4 modulated cytoskeleton dynamics by interacting with ARPC1A, enhancing lamellipodia formation, cellular motility, local invasion, and metastasis. Clinically, high EML4 protein abundance correlated with features of metastasis. METTL3 small-molecule inhibitor markedly diminished both EML4 m6A and protein abundance and efficiently suppressed lung metastases in vivo.Significance: Our study reveals a dynamic and functional epitranscriptomic landscape in LUAD, offering a valuable resource for further research in the field. We identified EML4 hypermethylation as a key driver of tumor metastasis, highlighting a novel therapeutic strategy of targeting EML4 to prevent LUAD metastasis.