N6-methyladenosine METTL3 modulates the proliferation and apoptosis of lens epithelial cells in diabetic cataract

Abstract N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent eukaryotic messenger RNA modification. Diabetic cataract (DC) is caused by high glucose (HG) in diabetes mellitus. However, the regulatory mechanism of m6A in the DC pathogenesis is poorly understood. In present research, we preformed the m6A-RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-Seq) analysis and detected the m6A modification profile in the high glucose (HG) or normal glucose (NG) induced human lens epithelial cells (HLECs). Results revealed that methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3) was up-regulated in the DC tissue specimens and HG-induced HLECs. Besides, total m6A modification level was higher in the HG-induced HLECs. Functionally, METTL3 knockdown promoted the proliferation and repress the apoptosis of HLECs induced by HG. MeRIP-Seq analysis revealed that ICAM-1 might act as the target of METTL3. Mechanistically, METTL3 targets the 3'-UTR of ICAM-1 to stabilize mRNA stability. In conclusion, this research identified the regulation of METTL3 in the HG-induced HLECs, providing a potential insight of the m6A modification for DC.