Novel candidate metastasis-associated genes for synovial sarcoma

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Genomics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Synovial sarcoma (SS) is an aggressive soft tissue cancer with a high risk of recurrence and metastasis.
• Metastasis is a critical factor influencing the poor prognosis of SS patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify core genes and molecular mechanisms driving SS metastasis.
• To discover potential biomarkers for predicting SS metastasis and patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) microarray datasets (GSE40021, GSE40018).
• Identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), hub genes, and crossover genes.
• Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA).
• Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for biomarker validation.

Main Results:

• 186 DEGs were identified, with pathways like extracellular matrix (ECM) organization and ECM-receptor interaction implicated.
• Enriched terms in metastatic SS included cell cycle, DNA replication, homologous recombination, and mismatch repair.
• Four genes (EXO1, NCAPG, POLQ, UHRF1) were identified as potential metastasis biomarkers.
• High expression of these genes correlated with poor prognosis in SS patients.

Conclusions:

• EXO1, NCAPG, POLQ, and UHRF1 are potential candidate genes associated with SS metastasis.
• Activated homologous recombination and mismatch repair pathways are observed in metastatic SS.
• These findings enhance understanding of SS metastasis mechanisms and identify potential therapeutic targets.