M2 macrophage-associated factors for constructing a prognostic model for osteosarcoma

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Osteosarcoma (OS) is a prevalent malignant bone tumor.
• Identifying prognostic factors is crucial for improving OS patient outcomes.
• M2 macrophages play a role in tumor progression and may offer prognostic insights.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify M2 macrophage-associated RNA factors for osteosarcoma (OS).
• To construct a prognostic score (PS) model for OS using these factors.
• To evaluate the model's predictive performance for OS patient survival.

Main Methods:

• Utilized TCGA and NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus datasets for OS expression and clinical data.
• Identified M2 macrophage-associated differentially expressed RNAs (DERs) between metastatic and non-metastatic samples.
• Applied LASSO Cox regression to select prognostic RNAs and construct a PS model; analyzed survival using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression; assessed model performance with ROC curves.

Main Results:

• Identified 153 M2 macrophage-associated DERs and selected 12 RNAs for the PS model.
• The high-risk group based on the PS model showed significantly shorter survival.
• Age, tumor metastasis status, and PS model status were identified as independent prognostic factors.
• The combined model demonstrated good predictive performance for OS survival via ROC analysis.

Conclusions:

• Several M2 macrophage-associated factors were identified as valuable prognostic biomarkers for osteosarcoma.
• The developed prognostic score model shows potential for clinical application in OS risk stratification.
• Further validation of these M2 macrophage-associated biomarkers is warranted for OS patient management.