NSUN5 is Upregulated and Positively Correlated with Translation in Human Cancers: A Bioinformatics-based Study

Abstract The role of RNA m5C (5-methylcytosine) and RNA m5C methyltransferases (RCMTs, including NSUN1, NSUN2, NSUN3, NSUN4, NSUN5, NSUN6, NSUN7 and TRDMT1) in human cancers remains largely unknown. In this study, GEPIA2 was used to compare the expression of RCMTs in human cancers and that in associated normal tissues, and to analyze the prognosis value of NSUN5 expression. UALCAN was used to compare the methylation level of NSUN5 promoter in human cancers and that in associated normal tissues. LinkedOmics was used perform BPs (biological processes), CCs (cellular components), MFs (molecular functions) and KEGG pathways analyses of NSUN5-correlated genes in each cancer one by one. We found that six RCMTs (NSUN1-NSUN5 and TRDMT1), especially NSUN5, were generally upregulated in human cancers, that the hypomethylation of NSUN5 promoter may be responsible for its upregulation, and that overexpressed NSUN5 predicted poorer prognosis and was positively correlated with translation in human cancers. The function of NSUN5 in human cancers and its mechanism need to be validated by biological experiments.