Table 1.

Roles of m⁶A in cancer.

m6A enzyme	Cancer type	Role	Change in target RNA	Function of m6A enzyme	References
METTL3	Acute myeloid leukemia	Oncogene	MYC↑, BCL2↑, PTEN↑	Inhibiting cell differentiation and apoptosis, increasing cell growth	[244]
	Breast cancer	Oncogene	HBXIP↑	Promoting cell proliferation, inhibiting apoptosis	[246, 277]
	Bladder cancer	Oncogene	miR-221/222↑, PTEN↓	Promoting cell growth	[278]
		Oncogene	SETD7↓, KLF4↓	Promoting cell proliferation and metastasis	[279]
	Colorectal cancer	Oncogene	SOX2↓	Promoting tumorigenesis and cell metastasis	[280]
		Tumor suppressor	p-p38↓, p-ERK↓	Inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, and invasion	[281]
	Glioblastoma	Oncogene	SRSFs↑	Promoting tumor growth and progression	[282]
		Oncogene	ADAR1↑	Promoting cancer progression	[283]
	Lung cancer	Oncogene	JUNB↑	Increasing TGF-β-induced EMT	[284]
		Oncogene	BRD4↑	Promoting oncogenic transformation and tumor growth	[285]
	Liver cancer	Oncogene	SOCS2↓	Promoting cell proliferation, migration, and colony formation	[286]
		Oncogene	RDM1↓	Increasing cell proliferation	[287]
METTL3, METTL14	Endometrial cancer	Tumor suppressor	PHLPP2↑, mTORC2↓	Inhibiting cell proliferation	[288]
	Glioblastoma	Tumor suppressor	ADAM19↑, EPHA3↑, KLF4↑, CDKN2A↓, BRCA2↓, TP53I11↓	Suppressing tumor genesis, growth, and self-renewal	[289]
METTL14	Acute myeloid leukemia	Oncogene	MYC↑, MYB↑	Inhibiting cell differentiation, increasing cell proliferation	[290]
	Breast cancer	Oncogene	DROSHA↑	Enhancing breast cancer stem-like cell stemness maintenance	[291]
	Colorectal cancer	Tumor suppressor	SOX4↓	Inhibiting EMT	[292]
		Tumor suppressor	lncRNA XIST↓	Suppressing proliferation and metastasis	[293]
	Pancreatic cancer	Oncogene	PERP↓	Promoting tumor growth and metastasis	[294]
WTAP	Liver cancer	Oncogene	ETS1↓	Promoting cell proliferation and tumor growth	[295]
FTO	Acute myeloid leukemia	Oncogene	MYC↑, CEBPA↑	Promoting cell proliferation and viability, inhibiting cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis	[296]
		Oncogene	ASB2↓, RARA↓	Enhancing cell transformation and leukemogenesis, inhibiting cell differentiation	[297]
	Liver cancer	Oncogene	ALDOA↑	Promoting cell growth under hypoxia	[298]
	Ovarian cancer	Tumor suppressor	PDE1C↓, PDE4B↓	Inhibiting the tumor self-renewal, suppressing tumorigenesis	[299]
ALKBH5	Acute myeloid leukemia	Oncogene	TACC3↑	Promoting tumor development and self-renewal	[300]
	Lung cancer	Tumor suppressor	YAP↓	Inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis	[301]
	Glioblastoma	Oncogene	FOXM1↑	Promoting cell proliferation	[51]
	Pancreatic cancer	Tumor suppressor	PER1↑	Reducing cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, suppressing tumor growth	[302]
YTHDF1	Lung cancer	Oncogene	CDK2↑, CDK4↑, cyclind1↑, Keap1↑	Promoting cell proliferation and xenograft tumor formation	[215]
	Liver cancer	Oncogene	EGFR↑	Promoting cell viability and metastasis	[303]
	Ovarian cancer	Oncogene	EIF3C↑	Facilitating tumor genesis and metastasis	[304]
YTHDF2	Glioblastoma	Oncogene	MYC↑, VEGFA↑	Maintaining glioblastoma stem cell stemness	[241]
	Liver cancer	Tumor suppressor	IL11↓, SERPINE2↓	Reducing tumor inflammation and causing vascular abnormalities	[59]
	Prostate cancer	Oncogene	LHPP↓, NKX3-1↓	Inducing tumor proliferation and migration	[305]
YTHDF3	Breast cancer	Oncogene	ST6GALNAC5↑, GJA1↑, EGFR↑	Controlling the interaction of cancer and brain microenvironment, inducing brain metastasis	[306]
	Colorectal cancer	Oncogene	LncRNA GAS5↓	Promoting cancer progression	[307]
IGF2BP1	Colorectal cancer	Oncogene	c-Myc↑	Promoting tumorigenesis	[308]
	Ovarian, liver, and lung cancer	Oncogene	SRF↑, PDLIM7↑, FOXK1↑	Promote cell growth and invasion	[309]
IGF2BPs	Cervical and liver cancer	Oncogene	MYC↑	Promoting tumorigenesis	[310]