OBJECTIVES: Methyltransferase-like 3/14/16 (METTL3/14/16) presents the regulating valve in N6-methyladenosine (m STUDY DESIGN: A case-control study included 680 BC patients and 680 healthy controls, individually matched for age (±2 years). METHODS: 7 SNPs were screened by bioinformatics tools. Conditional Logistic analysis was used to explore the association between SNPs and BC susceptibility. SNPs-reproductive factors interaction was assessed. qRT-PCR was conducted to detect the METTL3/14/16 expression of different SNPs. The potential biomechanism was explored using bioinformatics tools. RESULTS: Among the 7 analyzed SNPs, METTL3 rs1061026 T>
G exhibited a significant association with reduced susceptibility to BC. The TC+CC genotype of METTL14 rs428409 elevated BC risk, while the AG+GG genotype of METTL14 rs3087958 restrained BC risk. The stratified analysis further identified the protective effect of rs1061026 T>
G and rs3087958 T>
G, and the detrimental effect of rs428409 T>
G in specific subgroups. Haplotype analysis revealed that haplotypes G CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that rs1061026 T>
G, rs428409 T>
C, and rs3087958 A>
G might be associated with the risk of BC.