The N6-methyladenosine Modified EphA10 Promotes Prostate Cancer Progression by Activating the ERK/AKT Pathway

Prostate cancer (PCa) is highly aggressive and poses significant threats to health. Investigating the molecular regulatory mechanisms that potentially inhibit tumor progression is essential to identifying valuable target genes for therapeutic intervention. Bioinformatics techniques were employed to explore potential key target genes. siRNA interference was used to construct gene knockdown cell models. Dot blot and MeRIP-qPCR techniques are utilized to investigate the overall N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation levels of the target gene. qRT-PCR was used to evaluate the mRNA expression levels of the genes, while Western blotting analysis was performed to detect the protein expression levels of the target genes. The results from bioinformatics, Western blotting and qRT-PCR demonstrate that EphA10 is significantly overexpressed in PCa, highlighting its potential as a target gene for PCa. Mechanistically, EphA10 mRNA undergoes m6A modification mediated by RBM15B, which enhances its stability and expression. YTHDF1 has been identified as an m6A reader for EphA10, promoting its stability and expression in an m6A-dependent manner. Furthermore, the study reveals that m6A-modified EphA10 accelerates PCa cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by activating the ERK/AKT signaling pathway. Our findings suggest that PCa stabilizes the m6A methylation of EphA10, thereby sustaining the activation of the ERK/AKT signaling pathway and accelerating cancer progression. Targeting EphA10, or the m6A methylation "writer" and "reader" proteins involved in its regulation, to inhibit this methylation process could represent a promising therapeutic strategy for PCa.