Fig. 4

Descended levels of METTL3 and METTL14 associate with occurrence and poor prognosis of ccRCC. a, b The concentration of METTL3 (a) and METTL14 (b) transcripts in ccRCC tissues and normal kidney tissues from TCGA database. c, d Expression level of METTL3 (c) and METTL14 (d) in ccRCC of different pathological grades. e, f Association of ccRCC clinical stage with the expression of METTL3 (e) and METTL14 (f). g, h METTL3 (g) and METTL14 (h) transcript abundance in ccRCC with or without nodal metastasis. i, j Kaplan–Meier analysis of ccRCC patients’ overall survival (i) and disease-free survival (j) based on METTL3 expression in TCGA database. k, l Kaplan–Meier analysis of ccRCC patients’ overall survival (k) and disease-free survival (l) based on METTL14 expression in TCGA database. m The protein expression of METTL3 and METTL14 in 16 paired ccRCC tissues and normal kidney tissues determined by western blot assay. N, normal tissues; T, tumor tissues. n The quantification of m6A level in ten pairs of ccRCC tissues and normal tissues. Bar graphs: means ± SDs. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 and ****p < 0.0001. ns, not significant