RNA N6-methyladenosine methylation and skin diseases

Abstract

Skin diseases are global health issues caused by multiple pathogenic factors, in which epigenetics plays an invaluable role. Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are important epigenetic mechanism that regulate gene expression at the genome-wide level. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent modification that occurs in the messenger RNAs (mRNA) of most eukaryotes, which is installed by methyltransferases called “writers”, removed by demethylases called “erasers”, and recognised by RNA-binding proteins called “readers”. To date, m6A is emerging to play essential part in both physiological processes and pathological progression, including skin diseases. However, a systematic summary of m6A in skin disease has not yet been reported. This review starts by illustrating each m6A-related modifier specifically and their roles in RNA processing, and then focus on the existing research advances of m6A in immune homeostasis and skin diseases.

Keywords:

• N6-methyladenosine (m6A)
• RNA methylation
• skin diseases
• skin cancers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82030097 and 81874243), CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS) (2019-I2M-5-033), the Key project for international and regional cooperation in science and technology innovation of Hunan province (2019WK2081), the Project for leading talents in science and technology in Hunan province (2019RS3003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81874253), Excellent postdoctoral innovative talents of Hunan province in 2020 (No. 2020RC2014), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province China (No. 2021JJ40837).