VIRMA facilitates intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma progression through epigenetic augmentation of TMED2 and PARD3B mRNA stabilization.

Background: N6-methyladenine modification of RNA, a critical component of the regulatory role at the post-transcriptional level, has a crucial effect on tumor development and progression. vir-Like m6A methyltransferase associated (VIRMA) has been recently discovered as an N6-methyladenine methyltransferase; however, its specific role in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) remains to be investigated in-depth.

Methods: VIRMA expression and its association with clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and tissue microarrays. In vivo and in vitro assays were performed to determine the role of VIRMA in ICC proliferation and metastasis. The underlying mechanism by which VIRMA influences ICC was clarified by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq), SLAM sequencing (SLAM-seq), RNA immunoprecipitation, a luciferase reporter assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.

Results: VIRMA showed high expression in ICC tissues, and this finding predicted a dismal prognostic outcome. The high expression of VIRMA in ICC was due to the demethylation of H3K27me3 modification in the promoter region. Functionally, VIRMA is required for the endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in ICC cells, as shown by multiple ICC models in in vitro and in vivo experiments. Mechanistically, multi-omics analysis using ICC cells demonstrated that TMED2 and PARD3B were the direct downstream target of VIRMA. The methylated TMED2 and PARD3B transcripts were directly recognized by HuR, which exerted stabilizing effects on its bound RNA. VIRMA-induced expression of TMED2 and PARD3B activated the Akt/GSK/β-catenin and MEK/ERK/Slug signaling pathways, thereby promoting ICC proliferation and metastasis.

Conclusions: The present study showed that VIRMA plays a critical role in ICC development by stabilizing TMED2 and PARD3B expression through the m6A-HuR-mediated mechanism. Thus, demonstrating VIRMA and its pathway as candidate therapeutic targets for ICC treatment.