Identification of potential genes associated with metastasis in osteosarcoma: an integrated bioinformatics analysis

This study aims to identify the potential genes, pathways, and tumor immune microenvironment that might be involved in the metastasis process of osteosarcoma (OS). The GEO2R tool was deployed to screen two datasets obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database (GSE87624 and GSE85537). Integrated bioinformatic analyses were then performed to investigate Gene Ontology, potential pathways, protein-protein network interaction, core hub genes, genetic alterations, and immune cell infiltration. The hub gene expression levels were validated utilizing another dataset (GSE14329) and patient prognosis was validated using the GDC-TARGET OS dataset. Our analysis identified 263 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), predominantly associated with the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Analysis using Cytoscape based on DEGs revealed five validated core hub genes including COL6A1, MMP2, POSTN, TAGLN, and THY1. Additionally, TAGLN and THY1 have a significant association (P = 0.008) (P = 0.03) with unfavorable outcomes in osteosarcoma patients. This study unveiled that TAGLN and THY1 were associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in OS.