Yinyi Long, Dongyan Song, Liuyan Xiao, Yadie Xiang, Dier Li, Xiaoli Sun, Xue Hong, Fan Fan Hou, Haiyan Fu, Youhua Liu
{"title":"m<sup>6</sup>A RNA methylation drives kidney fibrosis by upregulating β-catenin signaling.","authors":"Yinyi Long, Dongyan Song, Liuyan Xiao, Yadie Xiang, Dier Li, Xiaoli Sun, Xue Hong, Fan Fan Hou, Haiyan Fu, Youhua Liu","doi":"10.7150/ijbs.96233","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>N<sup>6</sup>-methyladenosine (m<sup>6</sup>A) methylation plays a crucial role in various biological processes and the pathogenesis of human diseases. However, its role and mechanism in kidney fibrosis remain elusive. In this study, we show that the overall level of m<sup>6</sup>A methylated RNA was upregulated and the m<sup>6</sup>A methyltransferase METTL3 was induced in kidney tubular epithelial cells in mouse models and human kidney biopsies of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Proximal tubule-specific knockout of METTL3 in mice protected kidneys against developing fibrotic lesions after injury. Conversely, overexpression of METTL3 aggravated kidney fibrosis <i>in vivo</i>. Through bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation, we identified β-catenin mRNA as a major target of METTL3-mediated m<sup>6</sup>A modification, which could be recognized by a specific m<sup>6</sup>A reader, the insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3). METTL3 stabilized β-catenin mRNA, increased β-catenin protein and induced its downstream profibrotic genes, whereas either knockdown of IGF2BP3 or inhibiting β-catenin signaling abolished its effects. Collectively, these results indicate that METTL3 promotes kidney fibrosis by stimulating the m<sup>6</sup>A modification of β-catenin mRNA, leading to its stabilization and its downstream profibrotic genes expression. Our findings suggest that targeting METTL3/IGF2BP3/β-catenin pathway may be a novel strategy for the treatment of fibrotic CKD.</p>","PeriodicalId":13762,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biological Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11186362/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Biological Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.96233","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation plays a crucial role in various biological processes and the pathogenesis of human diseases. However, its role and mechanism in kidney fibrosis remain elusive. In this study, we show that the overall level of m6A methylated RNA was upregulated and the m6A methyltransferase METTL3 was induced in kidney tubular epithelial cells in mouse models and human kidney biopsies of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Proximal tubule-specific knockout of METTL3 in mice protected kidneys against developing fibrotic lesions after injury. Conversely, overexpression of METTL3 aggravated kidney fibrosis in vivo. Through bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation, we identified β-catenin mRNA as a major target of METTL3-mediated m6A modification, which could be recognized by a specific m6A reader, the insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3). METTL3 stabilized β-catenin mRNA, increased β-catenin protein and induced its downstream profibrotic genes, whereas either knockdown of IGF2BP3 or inhibiting β-catenin signaling abolished its effects. Collectively, these results indicate that METTL3 promotes kidney fibrosis by stimulating the m6A modification of β-catenin mRNA, leading to its stabilization and its downstream profibrotic genes expression. Our findings suggest that targeting METTL3/IGF2BP3/β-catenin pathway may be a novel strategy for the treatment of fibrotic CKD.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Biological Sciences is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by Ivyspring International Publisher. It dedicates itself to publishing original articles, reviews, and short research communications across all domains of biological sciences.