Recent studies have found that m6A modification of mRNA may play important roles in the progression of various types of cancers. However, current knowledge about drugs that can interfere with m6A methylation and inhibit cancer cell proliferation is still far from comprehensive. To this end, we performed integrative analysis on transcriptome data with perturbation of m6A writers or erasers and identified consensus m6A-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Comparative analysis of these m6A-related DEGs with Connectivity Map signatures highlight potential m6A-targeted drugs. Among them, we experimentally verified the inhibitory effects of AZ628 on the proliferation of human breast cancer cell lines and R428 on the proliferation of human melanoma cell lines. Both drugs can significantly reduce the cellular level of m6A modification. These results suggest an m6A-related new target pathway by AZ628 and R428 and provide new candidate m6A-related drugs that inhibit cancer cell proliferation.
Keywords: cancer cell proliferation; connectivity map; drug; m6A methylation; transcriptome.