The Emerging Role of Epitranscriptomics in Cancer: Focus on Urological Tumors

Abstract

Epitranscriptomics has gained ground in recent years, especially after the advent of techniques for accurately studying these mechanisms. Among all modifications occurring in RNA molecules, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most frequent, especially among mRNAs. m6A has been demonstrated to play important roles in many physiological processes and several disease states, including various cancer models (from solid to liquid tumors). Tumor cells’ epitranscriptome is indeed disrupted in a way to promote cancer-prone features, by means of up/downregulating m6A-related players: the so-called writers, readers and erasers. These proteins modulate m6A establishment, removal and determine mRNAs fate, acting in a context-dependent manner, so that a single player may act as an oncogenic signal in one tumor model (methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3) in lung cancer) and as a tumor suppressor in another context (METTL3 in glioblastoma). Despite recent advances, however, little attention has been directed towards urological cancer. By means of a thorough analysis of the publicly available TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database, we disclosed the most relevant players in four major urogenital neoplasms—kidney, bladder, prostate and testicular cancer—for prognostic, subtype discrimination and survival purposes. In all tumor models assessed, the most promising player was shown to be Vir like m6A methyltransferase associated (VIRMA), which could constitute a potential target for personalized therapies.