Rescue experiments demonstrated that when IGFBP2 was forced to be overexpressed in FTO-knockdown t(8;21) AML cells (Fig. 8A), the restoration of cell proliferation (Fig. 8B), colony-forming capacity (Fig. 8C) and regain of Ara-C tolerance (Fig. 8D and Additional file 1: Fig. S8A) were observed. Here, FTO is linked to acute myeloid leukemia.