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The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer

Dynamic modifications on RNA, frequently termed both, “RNA epigenetics” and “epitranscriptomics”, offer one of the most exciting emerging areas of gene regulation and biomedicine. Similar to chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms, writers, readers, and erasers regulate both the presence and interpret...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Maldonado López, Alexandra, Capell, Brian C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34209046
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12071019
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author Maldonado López, Alexandra
Capell, Brian C.
author_facet Maldonado López, Alexandra
Capell, Brian C.
author_sort Maldonado López, Alexandra
collection PubMed
description Dynamic modifications on RNA, frequently termed both, “RNA epigenetics” and “epitranscriptomics”, offer one of the most exciting emerging areas of gene regulation and biomedicine. Similar to chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms, writers, readers, and erasers regulate both the presence and interpretation of these modifications, thereby adding further nuance to the control of gene expression. In particular, the most abundant modification on mRNAs, N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A), catalyzed by methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) has been shown to play a critical role in self-renewing somatic epithelia, fine-tuning the balance between development, differentiation, and cancer, particularly in the case of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), which in aggregate, outnumber all other human cancers. Along with the development of targeted inhibitors of epitranscriptomic modulators (e.g., METTL3) now entering clinical trials, the field holds significant promise for treating these abundant cancers. Here, we present the most current summary of this work, while also highlighting the therapeutic potential of these discoveries.
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spelling pubmed-83036002021-07-25 The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer Maldonado López, Alexandra Capell, Brian C. Genes (Basel) Review Dynamic modifications on RNA, frequently termed both, “RNA epigenetics” and “epitranscriptomics”, offer one of the most exciting emerging areas of gene regulation and biomedicine. Similar to chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms, writers, readers, and erasers regulate both the presence and interpretation of these modifications, thereby adding further nuance to the control of gene expression. In particular, the most abundant modification on mRNAs, N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A), catalyzed by methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) has been shown to play a critical role in self-renewing somatic epithelia, fine-tuning the balance between development, differentiation, and cancer, particularly in the case of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), which in aggregate, outnumber all other human cancers. Along with the development of targeted inhibitors of epitranscriptomic modulators (e.g., METTL3) now entering clinical trials, the field holds significant promise for treating these abundant cancers. Here, we present the most current summary of this work, while also highlighting the therapeutic potential of these discoveries. MDPI 2021-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8303600/ /pubmed/34209046 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12071019 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Maldonado López, Alexandra
Capell, Brian C.
The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title_full The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title_fullStr The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title_full_unstemmed The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title_short The METTL3-m(6)A Epitranscriptome: Dynamic Regulator of Epithelial Development, Differentiation, and Cancer
title_sort mettl3-m(6)a epitranscriptome: dynamic regulator of epithelial development, differentiation, and cancer
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34209046
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12071019
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