FTO mediated ERBB2 demethylation promotes tumor progression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells

N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A) is the most prevalent and internal modification that occurs in the messenger RNAs of eukaryotes. However, knowledge of the impact of these modifications on gene expression regulation remains limited. By using the in vitro MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq assays, we discovered that the mRNA demethylase FTO was significantly up-regulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues and cells. Knockdown of FTO drastically suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells. Furthermore, by using transcriptome-wide m(6)A-seq and RNA-seq assays, we identified ERBB2 is the target of FTO, which acts in concert in ESCC tumorigenesis and metastasis. Moreover, loss and gain functional studies suggested that the m(6)A reader YTHDF1 stabilizes ERBB2 mRNA via decoding the m(6)A modification. All these results uncovered a new signaling cascade, including FTO, YTHDF1, and ERBB2, which finely regulates the ESCC progression. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10585-022-10169-4.