Prognostic role and mutational characteristics of N6‑methyladenosine‑related genes in lung adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is an invasive disease that originates from small airway epithelial cells or alveolar type II cells. Abnormal N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation serves a key role in the pathogenesis of human diseases, including cancer. RNA sequencing and somatic mutation data in the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-LUAD were downloaded from University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Xena database for a comprehensive analysis. m6A-related genes were selected from the content of RNA m6A modification in cancer. m6A genes were further screened by comparing how m6A genes affected survival in normal and tumor groups and analyzing the relationship between m6A genes and LUAD. GDC LUAD data were downloaded from the UCSC Xena public database to analyze the differential expression levels of genes involved with m6A methylation regulators. Next, the mutations of m6A genes were analyzed and a univariate Cox regression analysis and the Kaplan-Meier method were used to determine the relationship between their expression levels and overall survival time shown in TCGA database. Lastly, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (HNRNPC), insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein (IGF2BP)1 and IGF2BP3 were selected for subsequent analysis. Enrichment analysis revealed that HNRNPC was mainly enriched in the 'ribonucleoprotein complex biogenesis' pathway, IGF2BP1 in the 'mitotic cell cycle checkpoint' pathway and IGF2BP3 in the 'nuclear division' pathway. The present study identified novel immune-related prognostic markers for LUAD. Furthermore, the potential mechanisms of the prognostic markers in the regulation of LUAD etiology were investigated. The present study findings may provide novel insights into the treatment of patients with LUAD in the future.