Table 3.

Tumor-targeted drug therapy based on m⁶A methylation

Drug name	Targeting	Tumor	Functions	References
Curcumin	ALKHB5	NA	Curcumin reduces ALKHB5 (m6A demethylase) expression in a m6A methylation-dependent manner to inhibit adipogenesis	[329]
Quercetin	METTL3	Cervical cancer	Quercetin acts synergistically with cisplatin to inhibit migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells by suppressing expression of METTL3	[330]
Baicalin	FTO/ALKBH5	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Baicalein affects genomic stability to inhibit tumor growth by mediating increase in METTL3 and METTL14 and decreases in FTO and ALKBH5	[331]
Saikosaponin	FTO	Myelomonocytic leukemia	Saikosaponin sensitizes myelomonocytic leukemia cells to tyrosine kinase inhibitors by suppressing FTO to rescue m6A hypermethylation in MYC and RARA	[332]
Simvastatin	METTL3	Lung cancer	Simvastatin mediates METTL3 downregulation and affects epithelial mesenchymal transition through m6A methylation of EZH2 mRNA, thereby inhibiting malignant progression of lung cancer	[333]
DAC51	FTO	Melanoma	Dac51 blocks FTO-mediated regulation of glycolytic metabolism and prevents tumor immune evasion by inhibiting FTO activity	[129]
Meclofenamic acid	FTO	Cervical cancer	Selective inhibition of FTO demethylation of ALKBH5 via m6A methylation	[276]
Alk-04	ALKBH5	Melanoma	Inhibition of ALKBH5 to regulate Mct4/Slc16a3 expression and lactate content in TME and the composition of tumor-infiltrating Treg and MDSCs	[157]
miR-4429	METTL3	Gastric cancer	miR-4429 prevents gastric cancer progression by targeting METTL3 to inhibit m6A methylation-induced stabilization of SEC62	[281]
miR-186	METTL3	HCC	miR-186 targets METTL3 and inhibits value-added invasion of HCC through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway	[282]
Cisplatin	METTL3	Seminoma	Enhanced stability of TFAP2C mRNA may promote survival of cisplatin-loaded spermatocytoma cells through upregulation of DNA repair-related genes	[334]
Oxaliplatin	METTL3	Colorectal cancer	Depletion of Sec62 sensitizes tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents by inhibiting Wnt/β-catenin signaling	[335]
Everolimus	METTL3	Gastric cancer	Inhibition of AKT/mTOR pathway to enhance drug sensitivity in tumor cells	[336]
Anti‑PD‑1	METTL3	Melanoma	Inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 via suppressing the ERK pathway, thereby slowing tumor growth	[150]
STM2457	METTL3	Leukemia	STM2457 inhibits growth and differentiation and increases apoptosis of cancer cells by targeting METTL3	[337]
Imidazobenzoxazin-5-thione MV1035	ALKBH5	Glioblastoma	MV1035 reduces tumor migration and invasion by inhibiting ALKBH5	[338]
CS1/CS2	FTO	Leukemia	Inhibits expression of immune checkpoint genes (in particular, LILRB4) and significantly attenuates leukemic stem cell/initiating cell self-renewal and reprogramming immune responses through targeting FTO	[190]
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors	FTO	Leukemia	FTO-dependent m6A demethylation enhances mRNA stability of proliferation/survival transcripts containing m6A, leading to increased protein synthesis	[339]
Triptonide	IGF2BP1	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	Inhibits tumor growth by disrupting the lncRNA THOR-IGF2BP1 signaling pathway	[340]
Berberine	IGF2BP3	Colorectal cancer	Blocks tumor proliferation by downregulating IGF2BP3, inducing a G0/G1 phase block	[341]
JQ1	IGF2BP3	Ewing sarcoma	Inhibits tumor growth by reducing IGF2BP3 expression	[342]
BTYNB	IGF2BP1	Melanoma	Suppresses IGF2BP1 protein expression and retards ovarian cancer growth by impairing interactions between IGF2BP1 and c-MYC or E2F1 mRNA	[273]
Benzamidobenzoic acid/ureidothiophene	IGF2BP2	Colorectal/HCC	Delays tumor progression through targeted inhibition of IGF2BP2	[343]
Chidamide	METTL3/WTAP	Lung cancer	Downregulates c-MET expression by suppressing its mRNA m6A methylation, leading to a subsequent c-MET-/HGF-dependent increase in crizotinib sensitivity of tumor cells	[344]