A novel N6-methyladenosine (m6A)-dependent fate decision for the lncRNA THOR

Previous studies have revealed the critical roles of the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in cancers, but the relationship between the oncogenic role of the lncRNA THOR (a representative of cancer/testis lncRNAs) and m6A modification remains unclear. Here, we show that the internal m6A modification of the lncRNA THOR via an m6A-reader-dependent modality regulates the proliferation of cancer cells. Our findings demonstrated that the loss of the lncRNA THOR inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition, m6A is highly enriched on lncRNA THOR transcripts, which contain GA (m6A) CA, GG (m6A) CU, and UG (m6A) CU sequence motifs. RIP-qRT-PCR and RNA pull-down assay results revealed that the specific m6A readers YTHDF1 and YTHDF2 can read the m6A motifs and regulate the stability of the lncRNA THOR (stabilization and decay). These m6A-dependent RNA-protein interactions can maintain the oncogenic role of the lncRNA THOR. Collectively, these findings highlight the critical role of the m6A modification in oncogenic lncRNA THOR and reveal a novel long non-coding RNA regulatory mechanism, providing a new way to explore RNA epigenetic regulatory patterns in the future.