mRNA profiling and clinical outcomes in human osteosarcoma (biopsy/resection pairs)

Osteosarcoma is a malignancy with variable outcomes that are not tightly aligned with chemotherapy response. Previous work has suggested a possible role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in determining the susceptibility of osteosarcomas to treatment but formal miRNA-based outcome models have not been reported. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens may be a unique approach for such studies in a rare malignancy. We used supervised principal components analysis and logistic regression to study survival and chemoresponse endpoints, and miRNA activity and gene set analysis algorithms to study miRNA regulatory networks using mRNA data. Our study also creates a paradigm for FFPE-based miRNA clinical biomarker research in rare tumors. 5 unique pairs of diagnostic biopsy and surgical resection specimens were profiled. Paired samples are denoted in the Sample 'characteristics' field.