Alteration of mA-Tagged RNA Profiles in Bone Originated from Periprosthetic Joint Infection.

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication. This study aimed to unravel the veil of the N-methyladenine (mA) modification in PJI. Synovium, synovial fluid, sonication fluid and bone samples were collected intraoperatively from PJI and aseptic failure (AF) patients. The overall mA level was detected by the mA RNA methylation quantification kit, and the expression of mA-related genes was quantified by real-time PCR and Western blot. Finally, an epitranscriptomic microarray and bioinformatics analysis were performed. We showed that there was a significant difference in overall mA level between the PJI group and the AF group (PJI group had a higher overall mA level). The expression level of METTL3 was higher in the PJI group than that in the AF group. There were 2802 differential mA-modified mRNAs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that differential mA-modified mRNAs were significantly enriched in the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, Th17 cell differentiation and the IL-17 signaling pathway, which indicates that the mA modification might be involved in the processes of infection and immune response, bone metabolism and programmed cell death in PJI. In summary, the present work demonstrated that mA modification plays a role in PJI and might be a therapeutic target for developing effective treatment strategies.