Expression and prognostic potential of ribosome 18S RNA m6A methyltransferase METTL5 in gastric cancer

Abstract Background Ribosomal RNA N6-methyltransferase METTL5 was reported to catalyze m6A in 18S rRNA. We aimed to investigate the expression and prognostic features of METTL5 in gastric cancer (GC). Methods In this study, 168 GC patients and their corresponding adjacent tissues were collected. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of METTL5 protein. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis were used to dertermine the prognostic role of METTL5 protein in GC, and a nomogram was constructed to evaluate GC patients’ prognosis based on METTL5 expression. Data from TCGA and GEO database were also used to validate the prognostic value of METTL5 in GC patients on mRNA level. We further performed GSEA enrichment analysis to explore the possible function and related pathways related to METTL5. Results METTL5 protein in gastric cancer tissues (GCTs) was significantly decreased compared with adjacent normal tissues (ANTs) and adjacent intestinal metaplasia tissues (AIMTs) (P