Research progress concerning m(6)A methylation and cancer

N6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) methylation is a type of methylation modification on RNA molecules, which was first discovered in 1974, and has become a hot topic in life science in recent years. m(6)A modification is an epigenetic regulation similar to DNA and histone modification and is dynamically reversible in mammalian cells. This chemical marker of RNA is produced by m(6)A ‘writers’ (methylase) and can be degraded by m(6)A ‘erasers’ (demethylase). Methylated reading protein is the ‘reader’, that can recognize the mRNA containing m(6)A and regulate the expression of downstream genes accordingly. m(6)A methylation is involved in all stages of the RNA life cycle, including RNA processing, nuclear export, translation and regulation of RNA degradation, indicating that m(6)A plays a crucial role in RNA metabolism. Recent studies have shown that m(6)A modification is a complicated regulatory network in different cell lines, tissues and spatio-temporal models, and m(6)A methylation is associated with the occurrence and development of tumors. The present review describes the regulatory mechanism and physiological functions of m(6)A methylation, and its research progress in several types of human tumor, to provide novel approaches for early diagnosis and targeted treatment of cancer.