m6A demethylase FTO promotes tumor progression via regulation of lipid metabolism in esophageal cancer

BACKGROUND: Epitranscriptomics studies have contributed greatly to the development of research on human cancers. In recent years, N6-methyladenosine (m6A), an RNA modification on the N-6 position of adenosine, has been found to play a potential role in epigenetic regulation. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the regulation of cancer progression properties by m6A. RESULTS: We found that m6A demethylase fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) was highly expressed in esophageal cancer (EC) stem-like cells, and that its level was also substantially increased in EC tissues, which was closely correlated with a poor prognosis in EC patients. FTO knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion, stemness, and tumorigenicity of EC cells, whereas FTO overexpression promoted these characteristics. Furthermore, integrated transcriptome and meRIP-seq analyses revealed that HSD17B11 may be a target gene regulated by FTO. Moreover, FTO promoted the formation of lipid droplets in EC cells by enhancing HSD17B11 expression. Furthermore, depleting YTHDF1 increased the protein level of HSD17B11. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that FTO may rely on the reading protein YTHDF1 to affect the translation pathway of the HSD17B11 gene to regulate the formation of lipid droplets in EC cells, thereby promoting the development of EC. The understanding of the role of epitranscriptomics in the development of EC will lay a theoretical foundation for seeking new anticancer therapies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13578-022-00798-3.