Abstract
Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a devastating complication. This study aimed to unravel the veil of the N6-methyladenine (m6A) 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 m6A level was detected by the m6A RNA methylation quantification kit, and the expression of m6A-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 m6A level between the PJI group and the AF group (PJI group had a higher overall m6A level). The expression level of METTL3 was higher in the PJI group than that in the AF group. There were 2802 differential m6A-modified mRNAs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that differential m6A-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 m6A 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 m6A modification plays a role in PJI and might be a therapeutic target for developing effective treatment strategies.