RNA m⁶A reader YTHDF2 facilitates precursor miR-126 maturation to promote acute myeloid leukemia progression

As the most common internal modification of mRNA, N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) and its regulators modulate gene expression and play critical roles in various biological and pathological processes including tumorigenesis. It was reported previously that m⁶A methyltransferase (writer), methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) adds m⁶A in primary microRNAs (pri-miRNAs) and facilitates its processing into precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNAs). However, it is unknown whether m⁶A modification also plays a role in the maturation process of pre-miRNAs and (if so) whether such a function contributes to tumorigenesis. Here, we found that YTHDF2 is aberrantly overexpressed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, especially in relapsed patients, and plays an oncogenic role in AML. Moreover, YTHDF2 promotes expression of miR-126-3p (also known as miR-126, as it is the main product of precursor miR-126 (pre-miR-126)), a miRNA that was reported as an oncomiRNA in AML, through facilitating the processing of pre-miR-126 into mature miR-126. Mechanistically, YTHDF2 recognizes m⁶A modification in pre-miR-126 and recruits AGO2, a regulator of pre-miRNA processing, to promote the maturation of pre-miR-126. YTHDF2 positively and negatively correlates with miR-126 and miR-126's downstream target genes, respectively, in AML patients, and forced expression of miR-126 could largely rescue YTHDF2/Ythdf2 depletion-mediated suppression on AML cell growth/proliferation and leukemogenesis, indicating that miR-126 is a functionally important target of YTHDF2 in AML. Overall, our studies not only reveal a previously unappreciated YTHDF2/miR-126 axis in AML and highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting this axis for AML treatment, but also suggest that m⁶A plays a role in pre-miRNA processing that contributes to tumorigenesis.