# Topics and Trends in Most Cited RNA modifications and cancer Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/rna-modifications-and-cancer/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited RNA modifications and cancer research in the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 highlights a strategic shift in cancer epitranscriptomics from global m6A cataloging toward non-m6A modifications like m5C and m7G. Research increasingly connects key regulatory machinery—notably FTO, METTL3, and NSUN2—to mRNA stability, ferroptosis resistance, lactylation, and metabolic vulnerabilities in gastrointestinal and liver cancers.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | RNA modifications and cancer |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 13,650 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | m6A modification, mRNA stability, 5-methylcytosine (m5C), MeRIP-seq, ferroptosis |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 47–128 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Histone lactylation-regulated METTL3 promotes ferroptosis via m6A-modification on ACSL4 in sepsis-associated lung injury | Dan Wu, Charles B Spencer, Lilibeth Ortoga, Hao Zhang, Changhong Miao | Hao Zhang, Changhong Miao | Zhongshan Hospital, China | Redox Biology | 128 | 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103194 |
| 2 | Lactylation‐Driven IGF2BP3‐Mediated Serine Metabolism Reprogramming and RNA m6A—Modification Promotes Lenvatinib Resistance in HCC | Yuanxiang Lu, Jinghan Zhu, Yuxin Zhang, Wentao Li, Yixiao Xiong, Yunhui Fan, Yang Wu, Jianping Zhao, Changzhen Shang, Huifang Liang, Wanguang Zhang | Jianping Zhao, Changzhen Shang, Huifang Liang, Wanguang Zhang | Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China | Advanced Science | 106 | 10.1002/advs.202401399 |
| 3 | Methylation of GPRC5A promotes liver metastasis and docetaxel resistance through activating mTOR signaling pathway in triple negative breast cancer | Xueqi Ou, Yeru Tan, Jindong Xie, Jingping Yuan, Xinpei Deng, Ruonan Shao, Cailu Song, Xi Cao, Xiaoming Xie, Rongfang He, Yuehua Li, Hailin Tang | Rongfang He, Yuehua Li, Hailin Tang | Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China | Drug Resistance Updates | 105 | 10.1016/j.drup.2024.101063 |
| 4 | The modified RNA base acp3U is an attachment site for N-glycans in glycoRNA | Yixuan Xie, Peiyuan Chai, Nicholas A Till, Helena Hemberger, Charlotta G Lebedenko, Jennifer Porat, Christopher P Watkins, Reese M Caldwell, Benson M George, Jonathan Perr, Carolyn R Bertozzi, Benjamin A Garcia, Ryan A Flynn | Benjamin A. Garcia, Ryan A. Flynn | Washington University School of Medicine, United States | Cell | 90 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.044 |
| 5 | Metabolic Recoding of NSUN2‐Mediated m<sup>5</sup>C Modification Promotes the Progression of Colorectal Cancer via the NSUN2/YBX1/m<sup>5</sup>C‐ENO1 Positive Feedback Loop | Baoxiang Chen, Yanrong Deng, Yuntian Hong, Lifang Fan, Xiang Zhai, Heng Hu, Siyuan Yin, Quanjiao Chen, Xiaoyu Xie, Xianghai Ren, Jianhong Zhao, Congqing Jiang | Xiaoyu Xie, Xianghai Ren, Jianhong Zhao, Congqing Jiang | Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China | Advanced Science | 76 | 10.1002/advs.202309840 |
| 6 | Prediction of m6A and m5C at single-molecule resolution reveals a transcriptome-wide co-occurrence of RNA modifications | P Acera Mateos, A J Sethi, A Ravindran, A Srivastava, K Woodward, S Mahmud, M Kanchi, M Guarnacci, J Xu, Z W S Yuen, Y Zhou, A Sneddon, W Hamilton, J Gao, L M Starrs, R Hayashi, V Wickramasinghe, K Zarnack, T Preiss, G Burgio, N Dehorter, N E Shirokikh, E Eyras | Nikolay E. Shirokikh, Eduardo Eyras | Australian National University, Australia | Nature Communications | 74 | 10.1038/s41467-024-47953-7 |
| 7 | Ultrafast bisulfite sequencing detection of 5-methylcytosine in DNA and RNA | Qing Dai, Chang Ye, Iryna Irkliyenko, Yiding Wang, Hui-Lung Sun, Yun Gao, Yushuai Liu, Alana Beadell, José Perea, Ajay Goel, Chuan He | Qing Dai, Chuan He | The University of Chicago, United States | Nature Biotechnology | 70 | 10.1038/s41587-023-02034-w |
| 8 | RNA m5C oxidation by TET2 regulates chromatin state and leukaemogenesis | Zhongyu Zou, Xiaoyang Dou, Ying Li, Zijie Zhang, Juan Wang, Boyang Gao, Yu Xiao, Yiding Wang, Lijie Zhao, Chenxi Sun, Qinzhe Liu, Xianbin Yu, Hao Wang, Juyeong Hong, Qing Dai, Feng-Chun Yang, Mingjiang Xu, Chuan He | Mingjiang Xu, Chuan He | The University of Chicago, United States | Nature | 69 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07969-x |
| 9 | YTHDF2 promotes ATP synthesis and immune evasion in B cell malignancies | Zhenhua Chen, Chengwu Zeng, Lu Yang, Yuan Che, Meiling Chen, Lillian Sau, Bintao Wang, Keren Zhou, Yu Chen, Ying Qing, Chao Shen, Tingjian Zhang, Mark Wunderlich, Dong Wu, Wei Li, Kitty Wang, Keith Leung, Miao Sun, Tingting Tang, Xin He, Lianjun Zhang, Srividya Swaminathan, James C Mulloy, Markus Müschen, Huilin Huang, Hengyou Weng, Gang Xiao, Xiaolan Deng, Jianjun Chen | Zhenhua Chen | City of Hope, United States | Cell | 63 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.007 |
| 10 | NSUN2 lactylation drives cancer cell resistance to ferroptosis through enhancing GCLC-dependent glutathione synthesis | Kaifeng Niu, Zixiang Chen, Mengge Li, Guannan Ma, Yuchun Deng, Ji Zhang, Di Wei, Jiaqi Wang, Yongliang Zhao | Kaifeng Niu | China National Center for Bioinformation, China | Redox Biology | 61 | 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103479 |
| 11 | ALKBH5-mediated m6A modification of IL-11 drives macrophage-to-myofibroblast transition and pathological cardiac fibrosis in mice | Tao Zhuang, Mei-Hua Chen, Ruo-Xi Wu, Jing Wang, Xi-De Hu, Ting Meng, Ai-Hua Wu, Yan Li, Yong-Feng Yang, Yu Lei, Dong-Hua Hu, Yan-Xiu Li, Li Zhang, Ai-Jun Sun, Wei Lu, Guan-Nan Zhang, Jun-Li Zuo, Cheng-Chao Ruan | Li Zhang, Wei Lü, Guannan Zhang, Junli Zuo, Cheng‐Chao Ruan | Fudan University, China | Nature Communications | 60 | 10.1038/s41467-024-46357-x |
| 12 | A non-canonical role for a small nucleolar RNA in ribosome biogenesis and senescence | Yujing Cheng, Siwen Wang, He Zhang, Jong-Sun Lee, Chunyang Ni, Jason Guo, Eric Chen, Shenming Wang, Asha Acharya, Tsung-Cheng Chang, Michael Buszczak, Hao Zhu, Joshua T Mendell | Joshua T. Mendell | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States | Cell | 60 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.019 |
| 13 | Lactylation-driven FTO targets CDK2 to aggravate microvascular anomalies in diabetic retinopathy | Xue Chen, Ying Wang, Jia-Nan Wang, Yi-Chen Zhang, Ye-Ran Zhang, Ru-Xu Sun, Bing Qin, Yuan-Xin Dai, Hong-Jing Zhu, Jin-Xiang Zhao, Wei-Wei Zhang, Jiang-Dong Ji, Song-Tao Yuan, Qun-Dong Shen, Qing-Huai Liu | Xue Chen, Ying Wang, Jia-Nan Wang | Nanjing Medical University, China | EMBO Molecular Medicine | 56 | 10.1038/s44321-024-00025-1 |
| 14 | 5-methylcytosine methylation of MALAT1 promotes resistance to sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma through ELAVL1/SLC7A11-mediated ferroptosis | Chuan-Jian Shi, Feng-Xiang Pang, Yu-He Lei, Li-Qiang Deng, Fu-Zhen Pan, Zhi-Qing Liang, Tian Xie, Xian-Lin Wu, Yu-Yan Wang, Yan-Fang Xian, Wei-Qiang Zeng, Han-Li Lin, Jin-Fang Zhang | Jinfang Zhang | Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, China | Drug Resistance Updates | 51 | 10.1016/j.drup.2024.101181 |
| 15 | tsRNA-GlyGCC promotes colorectal cancer progression and 5-FU resistance by regulating SPIB | Rong Xu, Ashuai Du, Xinpei Deng, Wei Du, Kaiying Zhang, Jianbo Li, Yingxue Lu, Xiaoli Wei, Qinglong Yang, Hailin Tang | Qinglong Yang | Central South University, China | Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research | 50 | 10.1186/s13046-024-03132-6 |
| 16 | Targeting the oncogenic m6A demethylase FTO suppresses tumourigenesis and potentiates immune response in hepatocellular carcinoma | Ao Chen, Vanilla Xin Zhang, Qingyang Zhang, Karen Man-Fong Sze, Lu Tian, Hongyang Huang, Xia Wang, Eva Lee, Jingyi Lu, Xueying Lyu, Man-Fong Joyce Lee, Chun Ming Wong, Daniel Wai-Hung Ho, Irene Oi-Lin Ng | Irene Oi‐Lin Ng | The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Gut | 50 | 10.1136/gutjnl-2024-331903 |
| 17 | IGF2BP3 promotes mRNA degradation through internal m7G modification | Chang Liu, Xiaoyang Dou, Yutao Zhao, Linda Zhang, Lisheng Zhang, Qing Dai, Jun Liu, Tong Wu, Yu Xiao, Chuan He | Chuan He | The University of Chicago, United States | Nature Communications | 50 | 10.1038/s41467-024-51634-w |
| 18 | A hybrid residue based sequential encoding mechanism with XGBoost improved ensemble model for identifying 5-hydroxymethylcytosine modifications | Islam Uddin, Hamid Hussain Awan, Majdi Khalid, Salman Khan, Shahid Akbar, Mahidur R Sarker, Maher G M Abdolrasol, Thamer A H Alghamdi | Shahid Akbar, Thamer A. H. Alghamdi | Abdul Wali Khan University, Pakistan | Scientific Reports | 49 | 10.1038/s41598-024-71568-z |
| 19 | DDX21 mediates co-transcriptional RNA m6A modification to promote transcription termination and genome stability | Jin-Dong Hao, Qian-Lan Liu, Meng-Xia Liu, Xing Yang, Liu-Ming Wang, Si-Yi Su, Wen Xiao, Meng-Qi Zhang, Yi-Chang Zhang, Lan Zhang, Yu-Sheng Chen, Yun-Gui Yang, Jie Ren | Qian-Lan Liu, Yun‐Gui Yang, Jie Ren | Beijing Institute of Genomics, China | Molecular Cell | 47 | 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.03.006 |
| 20 | METTL16-SENP3-LTF axis confers ferroptosis resistance and facilitates tumorigenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma | Jialin Wang, Mengxi Xiu, Jin Wang, Yong Gao, Yandong Li | Yong Gao, Yandong Li | Tongji University, China | Journal of Hematology & Oncology | 47 | 10.1186/s13045-024-01599-6 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

Epitranscriptomic modifications have emerged as pivotal regulators of oncogenesis, gene expression, and therapeutic response. In the Class of 2026 cohort, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) remains the cornerstone of RNA modification research, present in 50% of the top-ranked papers. However, the field has broadened substantially to encompass a sophisticated network of regulatory machinery and non-m6A epitranscriptomic marks.

Key writers and erasers dominate current mechanistic investigations, led by the m6A demethylase FTO and writer enzyme METTL3 (each present in 14.7% of papers), alongside m6A readers YTHDF2 and YBX1 (11.8%). These regulators modulate post-transcriptional gene dynamics, with mRNA stability being the primary functional outcome investigated in 32.4% of top studies. Beyond m6A, non-m6A modifications are gaining major traction, particularly 5-methylcytosine (m5C, 23.5%) regulated by NSUN2, and N7-methylguanosine (m7G, 11.8%).

High-throughput profiling via MeRIP-seq (20.6%) serves as the principal methodological backbone for mapping modification sites across transcripts. Pathologically, these modification cascades are heavily contextualized within gastrointestinal and hepatic malignancies, notably hepatocellular carcinoma (14.7%) and colorectal cancer (14.7%), where RNA modification machinery directly drives metabolic reprogramming and iron-dependent ferroptosis pathways.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

Comparing the Class of 2025 (2023 publications) to the Class of 2026 (2024 publications) reveals a clear maturation of the epitranscriptomics field. While broad m6A mentions normalized slightly from 66.7% to 50.0%, research sharply redirected toward specialized modification machinery, non-m6A marks, and metabolic cross-talk.

The most prominent growth occurred in 5-methylcytosine (m5C) studies, surging over 4-fold from 5.6% to 23.5% of top publications. Similarly, targeted interest in the m6A eraser FTO jumped 5-fold from 2.8% to 14.7%. Functional investigations also expanded rapidly into ferroptosis and lipid peroxidation (rising to 17.6%), highlighting how RNA modifications alter cellular sensitivity to oxidative stress and iron-dependent cell death.

Furthermore, 2024 introduced novel metabolic and epigenetic intersections, including histone lactylation (H3K18la), lactate signaling, and tRNA-derived fragments, alongside translational tools such as patient-derived organoids and single-cell RNA sequencing. Conversely, generic mentions of anti-PD-1 therapy and broader microenvironment terms saw relative declines as researchers prioritized granular molecular mechanisms over broad phenomenological descriptions. Overall, the cohort shift reflects a transition from global m6A cataloging toward multi-mark epitranscriptomics and metabolic tumor vulnerabilities.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited RNA modifications and cancer Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/rna-modifications-and-cancer/2026. Accessed 2026-07-22.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```