METTL14 promotes lipid metabolism reprogramming and sustains nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression via enhancing m6A modification of ANKRD22 mRNA

Background: N-6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) modification is essential for modulating RNA processing as well as expression, particularly in the context of malignant tumour progression. However, the exploration of m(6)A modification in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains very limited. Methods: RNA m(6)A levels were analysed in NPC using m(6)A dot blot assay. The expression level of methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) within NPC tissues was analysed from public databases as well as RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. The influences on METTL14 expression on NPC proliferation and metastasis were explored via in vitro as well as in vivo functional assays. Targeted genes of METTL14 were screened using the m(6)A and gene expression profiling microarray data. Actinomycin D treatment and polysome analysis were used to detect the half-life and translational efficiency of ANKRD22. Flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation were used to validate the role of ANKRD22 on lipid metabolism in NPC cells. ChIP-qPCR analysis of H3K27AC signalling near the promoters of METTL14, GINS3, POLE2, PLEK2 and FERMT1 genes. Results: We revealed METTL14, in NPC, correlating with poor patient prognosis. In vitro and in vivo assays indicated METTL14 actively promoted NPC cells proliferation and metastasis. METTL14 catalysed m(6)A modification on ANKRD22 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), recognized by the reader IGF2BP2, leading to increased mRNA stability and higher translational efficiency. Moreover, ANKRD22, a metabolism-related protein on mitochondria, interacted with SLC25A1 to enhance citrate transport, elevating intracellular acetyl-CoA content. This dual impact of ANKRD22 promoted lipid metabolism reprogramming and cellular lipid synthesis while upregulating the expression of genes associated with the cell cycle (GINS3 and POLE2) and the cytoskeleton (PLEK2 and FERMT1) through heightened epigenetic histone acetylation levels in the nucleus. Intriguingly, our findings highlighted elevated ANKRD22-mediated histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27AC) signals near the METTL14 promoter, which contributes to a positive feedback loop perpetuating malignant progression in NPC. Conclusions: The identified METTL14-ANKRD22-SLC25A1 axis emerges as a promising therapeutic target for NPC, and also these molecules may serve as novel diagnostic biomarkers.