YTHDC1 serves as a potential therapeutic target and is linked with the immune microenvironment in Pan cancer

Previous studies have shown that m6A is involved in many aspects surrounding tumor progression, but the role of classic m6A reading protein YTHDC1 in the progression and immune microenvironment among multiple cancers remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of YTHDC1 in the Pan cancer tumor progression and immune microenvironment. The YTHDC1 expression pattern and prognostic value were first detected in Pan cancer in the public data. The role of YTHDC1 in Pan cancer was analyzed by bioinformatic analysis. The association between YTHDC1 expression and immune cell infiltration and immune inhibitory markers was analyzed. The expression of YTHDC1 in hepatocellular carcinoma was verified by independent datasets and clinical samples, and its function was explored in vitro. YTHDC1 is positive expression in all of 33 types tumors, and its expression and phosphorylation modification have abnormal changes across varieties tumors based on the analysis of TCGA and CPTAC databases. Prognostic analysis also showed that YTHDC1 was closely related to the prognosis of patients in some tumors such as BLCA and KIRC (p < 0.05). Finally, independent data sets, clinical samples and in vitro experiments verified the high expression of YTHDC1 in liver cancer and its ability to promote tumor and immune microenvironment. In conclusion, YTHDC1 has potential functions in tumors, can be used as a prognostic marker for a variety of tumors, and is related to the formation of the immune microenvironment. Out of pan-cancer, YTHDC1 promotes liver cancer progression.