Alteration of m 6 A-Tagged RNA Profiles in Bone Originated from Periprosthetic Joint Infection.

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication. This study aimed to unravel the veil of the N 6 -methyladenine (m 6 A) modification in PJI. Synovium, synovial fluid, sonication fluid and bone samples were collected intraoperatively from Staphylococcus aureus PJI and aseptic failure (AF) patients. The overall m 6 A level was detected by the m 6 A RNA methylation quantification kit, and the expression of m 6 A-related genes was quantified by real-time PCR and Western blot. Finally, an epitranscriptomic microarray and bioinformatics analysis were performed. We showed that there was a significant difference in overall m 6 A level between the PJI group and the AF group (PJI group had a higher overall m 6 A level). The expression level of METTL3 was higher in the PJI group than that in the AF group. There were 2802 differential m 6 A-modified mRNAs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that differential m 6 A-modified mRNAs were significantly enriched in the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, Th17 cell differentiation and the IL-17 signaling pathway, which indicates that the m 6 A modification might be involved in the processes of infection and immune response, bone metabolism and programmed cell death in PJI. In summary, the present work demonstrated that m 6 A modification plays a role in PJI and might be a therapeutic target for developing effective treatment strategies.