Emerging Regulatory Mechanisms of N 6 -Methyladenosine Modification in Cancer Metastasis

Cancer metastasis is the major cause of cancer-related deaths and accounts for poor therapeutic outcomes. A metastatic cascade is a series of complicated biological processes. N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is the most abundant and conserved epitranscriptomic modification in eukaryotic cells, which has great impacts on RNA production and metabolism, including RNA splicing, processing, degradation and translation. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that m 6 A plays a critical role in regulating cancer metastasis. However, there is a lack of studies that review the recent advances of m 6 A in cancer metastasis. Here, we systematically retrieved the functions and mechanisms of how the m 6 A axis regulates metastasis, and especially summarized the organ-specific liver, lung and brain metastasis mediated by m 6 A in various cancers. Moreover, we discussed the potential application of m 6 A modification in cancer diagnosis and therapy, as well as the present limitations and future perspectives of m 6 A in cancer metastasis. This review provides a comprehensive knowledge on the m 6 A-mediated regulation of gene expression, which is helpful to extensively understand the complexity of cancer metastasis from a new epitranscriptomic point of view and shed light on the developing novel strategies to anti-metastasis based on m 6 A alteration.