ALKBH5-mediated m6A demethylation of lncRNA PVT1 plays an oncogenic role in osteosarcoma

Background Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most common malignant bone tumors. Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is a well-known oncogenic long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). However, to date, the regulatory mechanism of PVT1 upregulation in OS remains unknown. Methods qRT-PCR was carried out to test the expression level of PVT1 and ALKBH5. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pull-down assays were performed to detect the interaction of PVT1 with ALKBH5 and YTHDF2. Methylated RNA immune-precipitation (MeRIP) was used to examine the N-6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) modification of PVT1 transcript. Results In this study, we found that PVT1 expression was upregulated in OS tissues and cells and significantly related with clinical stage, tumor size, and prognosis of patients with OS. Further investigation revealed that N-6-methyladenosine (m(6)A) demethylase ALKBH5 could associate with PVT1 and suppress its degradation. ALKBH5 decreased the m(6)A modification of PVT1, thus inhibiting the binding of reader protein YTHDF2 in PVT1. Functionally, ALKBH5-mediated PVT1 upregulation promoted the OS cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions Our study suggests that ALKBH5-mediated m(6)A modification of PVT1 contributes to OS tumorigenesis.