Abstract: Fat mass and obesity-associated protein(FTO) on chromosome 16q12.2 is an N6-methyladenosine(m⁶A) demethylase, some studies confirmed FTO regulated the m⁶A levels of downstream targets via their 3'untranslated regions to influence obesity. With the development of research, researchers have found that epigenetic modification of m⁶A methylation can regulate the occurrence and development of tumors by regulating the tumor suppressor genes and mRNA expression level of oncogenes. FTO is a crucial component of m⁶A modification, it regulates the occurrence, development and prognosis of various tumors. Current evidence indicate that FTO plays a critical role in occurrence, progression and treatment of various tumors via different ways, such as via affecting the growth and proliferation of tumor cells, inhibiting cell differentiation, intervening in the self-renewal of tumor stem cells, affecting tumor metastasis and radio-chemotherapy sensitivity. FTO may become a new promising target for the diagnosis and treatment of various tumors in the near future, especially for specific types of tumor, such as acute myeloid leukaemia, glioblastoma and breast cancer, etc. This has important theoretical significance and application value for the diagnosis and treatment of tumors. In this paper, the role of FTO in tumor and its research progress are reviewed through sorting out and analyzing the current researches on it.