Apoptosis-related genes-based prognostic signature for osteosarcoma

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone cancer common in children and adolescents, with a high rate of lung metastasis.
• The prognostic significance of apoptosis-related genes in OS has been underexplored.
• Understanding prognostic markers is crucial for improving patient outcomes in OS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and validate a prognostic signature based on apoptosis-related genes for osteosarcoma.
• To assess the independent prognostic value of the developed risk score in OS patients.
• To investigate the relationship between the risk score and immune cell infiltration in OS.

Main Methods:

• Downloaded and analyzed three OS datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.
• Employed univariate Cox, LASSO Cox, and multivariate Cox regression analyses to identify optimal prognostic genes.
• Constructed a prognostic risk score using six identified genes and validated it using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and CIBERSORT for immune cell infiltration analysis.

Main Results:

• Osteosarcoma patients were classified into two clusters with significantly different overall survival based on 680 apoptosis-related genes.
• A six-gene risk score (TERT, TRAP1, DNM1L, BAG5, PLEKHF1, PPP3CB) was developed, showing significantly worse overall survival in high-risk patients in both training and validation sets.
• The risk score was identified as an independent poor prognostic factor across different ages and genders, with differential infiltration of three immune cells observed between high and low-risk groups.

Conclusions:

• A six-gene prognostic risk score signature effectively distinguishes between different prognoses in osteosarcoma patients.
• This signature holds potential as a valuable tool for predicting survival outcomes in OS.
• The findings suggest a link between apoptosis-related genes, prognosis, and immune microenvironment in osteosarcoma.