Methyltransferase like 13 (METTL13), a kind of methyltransferase, is implicated in protein binding and synthesis. The upregulation of METTL13 has been reported in a variety of tumors. However, little was known about its potential function in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) so far. In this study, we found that METTL13 was significantly upregulated in HNSCC at both mRNA and protein level. Increased METTL13 was negatively associated with clinical prognosis. And METTL13 markedly affected HNSCC cellular phenotypes in vivo and vitro. Further mechanism study revealed that METTL13 could regulate EMT signaling pathway by mediating enhancing translation efficiency of Snail, the key transcription factor in EMT, hence regulating the progression of EMT. Furthermore, Snail was verified to mediate METTL13-induced HNSCC cell malignant phenotypes. Altogether, our study had revealed the oncogenic role of METTL13 in HNSCC, and provided a potential therapeutic strategy.

甲基转移酶 13 (METTL13) 是一种甲基转移酶，与蛋白质结合和合成有关。已经在多种肿瘤中报道了 METTL13 的上调。然而，到目前为止，对其在头颈部鳞状细胞癌 (HNSCC) 中的潜在功能知之甚少。在本研究中，我们发现 METTL13 在 HNSCC 中的 mRNA 和蛋白质水平均显着上调。METTL13 增加与临床预后呈负相关。METTL13 显着影响体内和体外的 HNSCC 细胞表型。进一步的机制研究表明，METTL13可以通过介导提高EMT关键转录因子Snail的翻译效率来调节EMT信号通路，从而调节EMT的进程。此外，Snail 被证实可介导 METTL13 诱导的 HNSCC 细胞恶性表型。