Table 2 Aberrant m⁶A modification plays an important role in tumorigenesis

Acute myeloid leukaemia

ASB2

RARA

Anti-oncogene

Elevated FTO leads to low levels of m⁶A on ASB2 and RARA at UTRs, which reduces the mRNA and protein levels of these two genes

[47]

MYB

MYC

Oncogene

METTL14 enhances m⁶A modification of MYB and MYC, which in turn leads to overexpression of MYB and MYC

[48]

BCL2

PTEN

Oncogene

Increased METTL3 in AML enhances m⁶A modification of BCL2 and PTEN, which leads to overexpression of BCL2 and PTEN

[50]

SP1

Oncogene

METTL3 binds to the promoter region of sp1 and enhances m⁶A modification and gene expression

[51]

Hepatocellular carcinoma

SOCS2

Anti-oncogene

High expression of METTL3 in human HCC leads to high m⁶A levels on SOCS2, causing the rapid degradation of SOCS2

[60]

microRNA126

Anti-oncogene

Decreased METTL14 reduces m⁶A modification levels and the expression of microRNA126

[61]

Glioblastoma stem cells

ADAM19

Oncogene

Low levels of METTL3 and METTL14 decrease m⁶A modification of ADAM19, which enhances the expression of ADAM19

[69]

FOXM1

Oncogene

High levels of ALKBH5 decrease m⁶A modification levels of FOXM1 and enhance the expression of FOXM1, which ultimately causes glioblastoma

[70]

Breast cancer

KLF4

NANOG

Oncogene

ZNF217 interacts with METTL3 and inhibits the m⁶A methylation of KLF4 and NANOG, which ultimately leads to high expression of KLF4 and NANOG

[74]

HBXIP

Oncogene

High levels of METTL3 enhance m⁶A modification of HBXIP, which accelerates HBXIP expression

[75]

MAGI3

Anti-oncogene

High levels of m⁶A modification in the large internal exon of MAGI3 promote the occurrence of breast cancer

[31]

Cervical cancer

β-catenin

Anti-oncogene

Upregulated FTO represses m⁶A modification of β-catenin and induces chemoradiotherapy resistance

[79]