Expression of m6A Reader Protein YTHDC2 in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer in a Chinese Clinical Cohort

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with limited biomarkers available for early diagnosis and prognosis. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification and its reader proteins, such as YTHDC2, play critical roles in gene regulation and tumorigenesis. This study aims to evaluate the expression profile of YTHDC2 in NSCLC tissues using bioinformatics and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), assess the relationship between YTHDC2 and clinicopathological characteristics, and explore its potential clinical and biological relevance for future research. Gene expression and survival data from databases were analyzed for prognostic accuracy. YTHDC2 expression was quantified in NSCLC tissues in a Chinese clinical cohort, and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Public database analyses showed that YTHDC2 was downregulated in NSCLC tissues (p < 0.05) and was associated with patient survival, although its prognostic performance was poor (AUC ≈ 0.5). qRT-PCR analysis of 19 paired tumor and adjacent normal tissues showed no statistically significant difference (p = 0.537) in YTHDC2 expression between cancer and adjacent tissues. Collectively, public database analyses suggest that YTHDC2 may be downregulated and have potential prognostic relevance in NSCLC, but independent clinical validation in our cohort did not confirm significant differential expression. These findings highlight substantial heterogeneity between large-scale datasets and real-world cohorts, indicating that YTHDC2 is unlikely to serve as a reliable standalone diagnostic or prognostic biomarker and may require integration with additional molecular markers for clinical applicability.