Table 2 Functional roles of RNA methylation and their regulators in esophageal cancer

RNA methylation type	RNA methylation regulator	Target RNA	Downstream molecular mechanism	Phenotype	Role in esophageal cancer	Reference
m 6A	METTL3, YTHDF2	APC	Wnt/β-catenin pathway	Aerobic glycolysis, tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[34]
METTL3, YTHDF3	EGR1	Snail signaling	Metastasis	Oncogene	[35]
METTL3	TNFR1	MAPK & NF-κB pathway	Tumorigenesis, proliferation, migration, invasion	Oncogene	[36]
METTL3	GAS5	miR3912-5p/RALYL	Tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[37]
METTL3	pri-miR-20a-5p	miR-20a-5p/NFIC	Metastasis, invasion, migration	Oncogene	[38]
METTL3	NOTCH1	Notch signaling pathway	Invasion, migration, proliferation, tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[39]
METTL3	GLS2		Metastasis	Oncogene	[40]
METTL3		AKT signaling pathway	Proliferation, invasion	Oncogene	[41]
METTL3		p21-axis	Proliferation	Oncogene	[42]
METTL3		COL12A1/MAPK signaling pathway	Tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[43]
METTL3		PI3K/AKT signaling pathway	Proliferation, invasion, migration	Oncogene	[44]
METTL14	miR-99a-5p	TRIB2/HDAC2/AKT/mTOR/S6K1	Stemness, radioresistance	Oncogene	[45]
WTAP, YTHDF2	CPSF4		Proliferation, invasion, migration	Oncogene	[46]
WTAP		ki67 and Snail	Proliferation, migration	Oncogene	[47]
ALKBH5	CASC8	hnRNPL/Bcl2/caspase3 pathway	Proliferation, chemoresistance	Oncogene	[48]
ALKBH5	pri-miR-194-2	RAI1/Hippo signaling pathway	Tumorigenesis, metastasis, migration	Tumor suppressor gene	[49]
ALKBH5	LINC00278	AR signaling pathway	Proliferation	Oncogene	[50]
ALKBH5	miR-193a-3p		Proliferation, migration, invasion	Tumor suppressor gene	[51]
ALKBH5			Proliferation, invasion	Tumor suppressor gene	[52]
ALKBH5			Migration, invasion, tumorigenesis	Tumor suppressor gene	[53]
FTO, YTHDF2	LINC00022	p21	Tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[54]
FTO, YTHDF1	HSD17B11	Lipid metabolism	Tumorigenesis, migration, invasion	Oncogene	[55]
FTO, YTHDF1	ERBB2		Metastasis, tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[56]
FTO		MMP13	Proliferation, migration	Oncogene	[57]
YTHDF1	HK2		Aerobic glycolysis	Oncogene	[58]
IGF2BP2	TK1		Migration, invasion	Oncogene	[59]
HNRNPA2B1		ACLY/ACC1	Proliferation, invasion, migration	Oncogene	[60]
YTHDC2		Several cancer-related signaling pathways	Proliferation	Tumor suppressor gene	[61]
m 5C	NSUN2	NMR	BPTF/MMP3/MMP10	Chemoresistance, migration, invasion, proliferation	Oncogene	[62]
NSUN2	GRB2	PI3K/AKT and ERK/MAPK	Tumorigenesis, invasion, migration	Oncogene	[63]
NSUN2		Cancer-related genes	Proliferation, radiochemotherapy resistance	Oncogene	[64]
YBX1	c-Myc		Proliferation, metastasis	Oncogene	[65]
TET3		HOXB2/c-MYC/NANOG pathway	Stemness	Oncogene	[66]
TET2			Proliferation, migration	Tumor suppressor gene	[67]
TET1			Migration, invasion	Tumor suppressor gene	[68]
TET1			Proliferation	Tumor suppressor gene	[69]
m 7G	METTL1/WDR4	tRNA	RPTOR-pULK1	Proliferation, tumorigenesis	Oncogene	[70]