N 6 ‑methyladenosine reader IGF2BP3 promotes endometrial cancer progression via modification of circ‑EPB41L2 expression

Endometrial cancer is one of the primary contributors to cancer-related mortality on a global scale.Insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3) is a reader protein of N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) modifications and serves a key role in the carcinogenesis of numerous solid tumors.The present study explored the role and underlying mechanism of IGF2BP3 in endometrial cancer.Bioinformatics methods were applied to examine m 6 A reader protein expression levels and their effect on survival.Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting were used to determine IGF2BP3 expression in cancer and paracancerous tissues.After knockdown of IGF2BP3 expression, cell proliferation and migration were examined.Significantly expressed genes were identified through Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Gene Ontology analysis.Additionally, the cross-linking immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (CLIP-seq) database and methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) techniques were employed to ascertain the targets of IGF2BP3.The present study revealed that the expression levels of IGF2BP1, IGF2BP3, RNA binding motif protein 15 and YTH N 6 -methyladenosine RNA binding protein C2 differed between normal and endometrial cancer tissue, based on The Cancer Genome Atlas analysis.Through examination of endometrial cancer tissues and Kaplan-Meier analysis, IGF2BP3 was determined to be a target for further research.Following knockdown of IGF2BP3 expression in HEC-1A cells using short hairpin RNA transfection, proliferation and migration were decreased compared with those in the control group.A transcriptome-wide RNA-sequencing assay indicated that circular RNA (circ) was abnormally expressed in endometrial carcinoma and was regulated by IGF2BP3.CLIP-seq database analysis and MeRIP suggested that circ-erythrocyte membrane protein band 4.1 like-2 (EPB41L2) was the target of IGF2BP3.IGF2BP3 was involved in the progression of endometrial cancer and served an oncogenic role by targeting circ-EPB41L2 in an m 6 A-dependent manner.