N⁶-Methyladenosine METTL3 Modulates the Proliferation and Apoptosis of Lens Epithelial Cells in Diabetic Cataract

N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent eukaryotic messenger RNA modification. Diabetic cataract (DC) is caused by high glucose (HG) in diabetes mellitus. However, the regulatory mechanism of m⁶A in the DC pathogenesis is poorly understood. In present research, we performed the m⁶A-RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-Seq) analysis and detected the m⁶A modification profile in the HG- or normal glucose (NG)-induced human lens epithelial cells (HLECs). Results revealed that methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) was upregulated in the DC tissue specimens and HG-induced HLECs. Besides, total m⁶A modification level was higher in the HG-induced HLECs. Functionally, METTL3 knockdown promoted the proliferation and repressed the apoptosis of HLECs induced by HG. MeRIP-Seq analysis revealed that ICAM-1 might act as the target of METTL3. Mechanistically, METTL3 targets the 3' UTR of ICAM-1 to stabilize mRNA stability. In conclusion, this research identified the regulation of METTL3 in the HG-induced HLECs, providing a potential insight of the m⁶A modification for DC.