WTAP overexpression in M2-polarized human THP-1 macrophages: transcriptome profiling

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification has been studied extensively in tumour cells, but its contribution to the tumour microenvironment is far less well defined. We found that the m6A writer WTAP is preferentially expressed in M1 rather than M2 macrophages and that its level influences macrophage polarization. To define the WTAP-dependent transcriptional program in macrophages, we performed bulk mRNA sequencing of IL-4-polarized M2 macrophages derived from the human monocytic cell line THP-1 after transient transfection with a WTAP-overexpressing plasmid (pcDNA3.1-WTAP, OE group) or the corresponding empty vector (pcDNA3.1, NC group), with three biological replicates per group. Intersecting the differentially expressed genes with immune-related gene sets identified MYO1G as a WTAP-responsive candidate. WTAP was subsequently shown to increase the m6A level and the stability of MYO1G mRNA, thereby driving an M1-like phenotype and suppressing the proliferation, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. This series contains the bulk RNA-seq data underlying that analysis.