Wilms’ tumor 1-associated protein facilitates the progression of CC by silencing BRCA1

Abstract

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common female malignancies, and cisplatin-based chemotherapy is routinely utilized in patients with locally advanced stage. Exploration of the pathogenesis and molecular mechanism of CC is pivotal for the development of effective treatments for this disease. N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) modification, the most prevalent modification of eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA), is involved in the progression of various tumours, however, as the key component of m6A methylation, Wilms’ tumor 1-associated protein (WTAP) has not been well studied in CC. WTAP is a nuclear protein that is ubiquitously expressed in many tissues, therefore this study investigated the biological role and underlying mechanism of WTAP in CC. Western blot, RT-qPCR, and immunofluorescence techniques were used to detect the expression of WTAP in CC tumour tissues, adjacent tissues, and CC cell lines. We clarified the effects of WTAP on CC cells using cell proliferation assays and colony formation experiments. We then applied RNA sequencing combined with Gene Expression Omnibus data to screen for candidate targets of WTAP. The results demonstrated that in CC cell lines and tissues, WTAP was significantly overexpressed and exerted a pro-oncogenic influence. We determined that WTAP regulated breast Cancer Susceptibility Protein-1 (BRCA1) expression, thereby affecting the proliferation of CC cells.