12 Survival-related differentially expressed genes based on the TARGET-osteosarcoma database

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Genomics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Childhood cancers, including osteosarcoma, require novel therapeutic strategies.
• The Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) project provides valuable molecular data for childhood cancers.
• Understanding gene expression patterns is crucial for identifying therapeutic targets and prognostic markers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify molecular changes driving osteosarcoma.
• To analyze differential gene expression between deceased and alive osteosarcoma patients using TARGET-OS data.
• To discover novel prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets for osteosarcoma.

Main Methods:

• Downloaded and analyzed TARGET-OS RNA-Sequencing data using R studio.
• Merged gene mRNA expression data with clinical information (vital status, survival time, gender).
• Performed differential gene expression analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox univariate regression.

Main Results:

• Identified 5758 differentially expressed genes between deceased and alive patients (FDR < 0.05).
• Found 4469 upregulated and 1289 downregulated genes in deceased patients.
• Selected 217 survival-associated genes, including eight downregulated (e.g., ERCC4, CLUAP1) and four upregulated (e.g., MUC1, COL13A1) candidate genes for further analysis.

Conclusions:

• Differential gene expression analysis reveals significant molecular differences in osteosarcoma patients with varying survival outcomes.
• Identified specific downregulated and upregulated genes associated with overall survival in osteosarcoma.
• These findings suggest potential for novel prognostic markers and therapeutic targets in osteosarcoma treatment.