Int J Biol Sci 2022; 18(7):2744-2758. doi:10.7150/ijbs.70458 This issue Cite
Review
1. College of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, West Anhui University, Lu'an, China.
2. Department of Radiology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Guangzhou, 510060, P.R. China.
# These authors contributed equally to this work.
RNA can be modified by over 170 types of distinct chemical modifications, and the most abundant internal modification of mRNA in eukaryotes is N6-methyladenosine (m6A). The m6A modification accelerates mRNA process, including mRNA splicing, translation, transcript stability, export and decay. m6A RNA modification is installed by methyltransferase-like proteins (writers), and potentially removed by demethylases (erasers), and this process is recognized by m6A-binding proteins (readers). Notably, alterations of m6A-modified proteins (writers, erasers and readers) are involved in the tumorigenesis, progression and metastasis. Importantly, the fate of m6A-methylated mRNA is mediated mostly through m6A readers, and among these readers, insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs) are unique RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that stabilize their targets mRNA via m6A modification. In this review, we update the writers, erasers and readers, and their cross-talks in m6A modification, and briefly discuss the oncogenic role of IGF2BPs in cancer. Most importantly, we mainly review the up-to-date knowledges of IGF2BPs (IGF2BP1/2/3) as m6A readers in an m6A-modified manner in cancer progression.
Keywords: N6-methyladenosine (m6A), IGF2BPs, Reader, Stabilization, Cancer