ALYREF regulates glycolysis and promotes the progression of endometrial cancer through m5C modification of PKM2 mRNA

Abstract

Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies, and effective treatment options for advanced or recurrent cases remain limited. Here, we investigated the biological function and molecular mechanism of the RNA-binding protein ALYREF in EC. Bioinformatics analysis of public datasets revealed that ALYREF is significantly upregulated in EC tissues, and high ALYREF expression is associated with poor overall survival in the Kaplan-Meier Plotter cohort. Clinical validation using paired EC tissues confirmed ALYREF upregulation at protein level, and high ALYREF expression was associated with aggressive clinicopathological features. Functional assays revealed that ALYREF promotes EC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and enhances tumor growth and metastasis in vivo . Mechanistically, ALYREF increases the stability of PKM2 mRNA, which we demonstrate to be m 5 C-modified in EC, leading to elevated PKM2 protein expression, enhanced glycolytic metabolism and tumor progression. Rescue experiments confirmed that PKM2 is an important downstream effector of ALYREF-mediated oncogenic activity. Collectively, this study identifies the ALYREF-PKM2 axis as an important regulator linking RNA methylation and glucose metabolism in EC, suggesting that this axis may be a potential therapeutic target for EC.