Identification of METTL14 in Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma Using Bioinformatics Analysis

The kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) with poor prognosis is the main histological subtype of the renal cell carcinoma, accounting for 80–90% of patients. Currently, the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) epitranscriptional modification draws much attention. The m6A RNA modification, the most plentiful internal modification of mRNAs and noncoding RNAs in the majority of eukaryotes, regulates mRNAs at different levels and is involved in disease occurrence and progression. The GTExPortal and TCGAportal were applied to investigate the METTL14 mRNA expression in different tissues and KIRC stages. The Human Protein Atlas was used to verify the location of METTL14 in KIRC tissues. The main microRNAs (miRNAs) related to KIRC were analyzed using OncoLnc and starBase, while corresponding circular RNAs (circRNAs) interacting with miRNAs were predicted via circBank; then, the METTL14-miRNA-circRNA interaction network was established. The level of methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) mRNA was significantly lower in KIRC tissues compared with normal kidney tissues, which was relative to clinical and pathological stages. circRNAs may regulate METTL14 mRNA as miRNAs sponge to affect the KIRC progression. METTL14 mRNA is likely to regulate PTEN mRNA expression via changing its m6A RNA modification level. METTL14 mRNA expression negatively correlated with the KIRC stages and positively correlated with KIRC patients' overall survival, which has great potential to serve as a clinical biomarker in KIRC.