N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification has emerged in the recent years as a new layer of regulation controlling gene expression during normal and pathological cell fate determination, including cancer development. Specifically, proteins responsible for m6A modification have been found altered in many malignancies, included clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC).
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the tenth most common cancer worldwide. The most common subtype of RCC is the ccRCC. It accounts for 70-80% of all renal malignancies representing the third most common urological cancer after prostate and bladder cancer. On the basis of the emerging pathological roles of m6A modification and the potential of targeting m6A regulators for cancer therapy, our group aims at identifying novel m6A-related molecular biomarkers for ccRCC clinical management. To this end, since 2016 we enrolled 60 patients undergoing surgery and histologically classified as ccRCC. For each patient enrolled in this study we have obtained FFPE and fresh frozen tumor and normal parenchyma tissue samples, serum and urine samples (collected on the day of the surgery and after 1/3-6-12 months during the follow-up). Research plan: i) evaluation of m6A levels and m6A regulators expression in normal and neoplastic tissues; ii) evaluation of m6A modification levels in serum and urine collected at the day of surgery during the follow-up of patients diagnosed with ccRCC, to clarify if clinical outcomes may correlate with the presence of m6A levels; iii) evaluation of m6A regulators contribution to ccRCC phenotype; iii) evaluation of the functional relevance of m6A regulators in the response to conventional drug treatments.
The comprehension of the contribution of m6A modification and its molecular pathways to ccRCC phenotype may be relevant to pave the way for the identification and design of innovative clinical approaches in this tumor.
