Fig. 1

Downregulated m6A status and upregulated m6A demethylase are correlated with poor prognosis in HNSCC. a, b Heatmap profiling and violin plot analysis of the expression of m6A WERs in the TCGA HNSCC database. c, d Dot blotting using an m6A antibody was performed in paired HNSCC tissues and cell lines. e, f The percentage of m6A was detected in 10 paired HNSCC tissues and cell lines using an m6A RNA Methylation Quantification Kit. g Representative images of immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining for ALKBH5 on a tissue microarray (TMA) composed of 138 HNSCC tissues and 20 normal epithelium tissues. Scale bars: 100 μm. h The expression levels of ALKBH5 were analyzed in HNSCC and normal control tissues. i The correlation between TNM stage and ALKBH5 expression was analyzed. j The Kaplan–Meier method was used to plot survival curves for patients with high and low ALKBH5 expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HNSCC dataset. The log-rank test was used to compare the survival rate. k Immunoblot analyses of five paired HNSCC tissues were performed with the indicated antibodies. l ALKBH5 expression was detected in six HNSCC cell lines and two normal oral keratinocyte (NOK) lines using immunoblotting. m ALKBH5 mRNA was analyzed by qRT-PCR in NOK1 and six HNSCC cell lines. Bar: 100 μm. Data are presented as the mean ± S.D. Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01