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REVIEW
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m6A in bone homeostasis and related diseases

Bo Ma1# ,  Junyu Su2# ,  Yuanchao Zhu2# ,  Fengshi Zhang1# ,  Hailin Ma2# ,  Tianze Sun1 ,  Hanwen Cheng1 ,  Kangling Xu2 ,  Baixin Gu2 ,  Rou Wen2 ,  Yien Zheng3 ,  Qi Yang4* ,  Deli Wang5* ,  Fei Yu6*
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1 Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China
2 Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
3 Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
4 Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
5 Department of Bone & Joint Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
6 Department of Spine Surgery, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
BMT 2025 , 6(3), 281–293; https://doi.org/10.12336/bmt.24.00058
Submitted: 17 September 2024 | Revised: 13 October 2024 | Accepted: 12 February 2025 | Published: 22 September 2025
Copyright © 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 License.
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Abstract

N6-methyladenosine RNA methylation (m6A) is one of the most common and widespread RNA modifications in eukaryotic cells. m6A plays a crucial role in the regulation of pathophysiological processes of eukaryotes. Three types of m6A regulators, including methyltransferases, demethylases and m6A-binding proteins, are involved in the reversible epigenetic modification of m6A. Bone is a vital organ with irreplaceable functions of movement, haematopoiesis, and protection of other organs. Its physiological homeostasis is mainly determined by the synergy of corresponding cells such as bone marrow derived stem cells, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts. Once the physiological equilibrium is broken, the bones will transform into a pathological state, resulting with diseases such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteosarcoma. Here, we review the composition of m6A and its regulation mechanism in bone physiology and pathology.

Keywords
Bone
m6A
Osteoarthritis
Osteogenesis
Osteoporosis
Funding
This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 82102568, 82172432), Shenzhen Key Medical Discipline Construction Fund (No. SZXK023), Shenzhen “San-Ming” Project of Medicine (No. SZSM202211038), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Nos. ZDSYS20220606100602005, JCYJ20220818102815033, KCXFZ20201221173411031, JCYJ20210324110214040), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Nos. 2022A1515220111, 2022B1515120046), The Scientific Research Foundation of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital (No. KYQD2021099), and Shenzhen Medical Research Fund (No. A2402029).
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Conflict of interest
All authors declare no competing interests.
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