The invasion of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is closely related to
cancer development. Studies have demonstrated that
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) can affect the invasion of immune cells in TME as well as
cancer development. We comprehensively analyzed the
RNA-seq data of 16 different
cancer types based on 20
m6A regulators and identified two distinct
m6A modification patterns, which were closely associated with TME cell infiltration and overall patient survival. Then, we used principal component analysis (PCA) to construct m6Ascore based on the expression of m6A-related prognostic genes, which can successfully predict patient survival. The low-m6Ascore subtype is characterized by more immune cell infiltration, good prognosis and lower TNM stages, while the high-m6Ascore subtype is characterized by low immune infiltration, stromal activation, and poor prognosis. m6Ascore was also closely associated with
immunotherapy response and was significantly higher in complete response/partial response (CR/PR) patients than in stable disease/progressive disease (SD/PD) patients in both
immunotherapy cohorts. Therefore, our study indicates that
m6A modification plays an important role in the prognosis of pan-
cancer and the formation of complex TME in pan-
cancer. Our research helps to improve the cognition of
m6A modifications at pan-
cancer levels and identify more effective strategies for
immunotherapy.