A Pan-Cancer Analysis of the Oncogenic Role of Methyltransferase-Like 1 in Human Tumors

Background And Object: Although emerging cell- or animal-based evidence supports the relationship between methyltransferase-like 1 (METTL1) and cancers, no pan-cancer analysis is available.

Methods: We thus first explored the potential oncogenic roles of METTL1 across 33 tumors based on the datasets of The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus.

Results: METTL1 is highly expressed in most cancers, and distinct associations exist between METTL1 expression and prognosis of tumor patients. METTL1 level is related with the dendritic and B-cell infiltration levels in most tumors. Moreover, RNA processing- and RNA metabolism-associated functions were involved in the functional mechanisms of METTL1.

Conclusion: Our pan-cancer study offers a relatively comprehensive understanding of the oncogenic roles of METTL1 across different tumors.