Up-Regulation of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 is Related to the Prognosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal modification in mammalian mRNAs. M6A is composed of methyl-transferases, which act as ("writers"), binding proteins, which act as ("readers"), and demethylases, which act as ("erasers"). As an important part of ("readers"), YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 were shown to be associated with many cancers. This paper aimed to study the expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods We detected the expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 in 120 OSCC patients by immunohistochemical analysis. Statistical analysis was used to determine whether the high or low expression of these two genes was significantly associated with age, gender, histological type, clinical stage, or lymph node metastasis. The correlation curve and survival curve of the two genes were produced to evaluate the potential clinical significance. Results We find the expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 was increased in OSCC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues。The statistical analysis showed that the expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 was significantly associated with the clinical stage and histological type in OSCC patients. There was also a significant correlation between the expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3. A high expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 was related to poor patient prognosis. Conclusions Our findings suggest that a high expression of YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 may be related to poor patient prognosis.