TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY
2019 , Vol 34 , Num 2
Genetics of Osteosarcomas
1Department of Basic Oncology, Istanbul University, Oncology Institute, Cancer Genetic Division, İstanbul-Turkey
DOI :
10.5505/tjo.2019.1975
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common bone cancer in children and young adults. Most cases are high
grade and aggressive. Studies on the OS genetics have become important in recent years. The reason
for the small number of studies on OSs is because the tumor is rarely detected. OSs mostly develop in
the femur, tibia, and humerus. Overt metastasis may be detected in 20%?25% of cases. The first genetic
studies of OSs were the studies conducted at the cytogenetic level. They showed that OSs had aneuploidic
characteristics. Because studies for identifying the gene expression levels used the cytogenetic
and molecular analyses, substantial data were available on OSs. In addition, OSs have been found to
have a wide miRNA spectrum. The results obtained particularly from the circRNA and miRNA studies
suggested that these molecules might be used as biomarkers in the identification of the drug resistance,
which reveals the importance of genetic changes in the follow-up of diagnosis and treatment. The aim
of the present review was to collect the cytogenetic and molecular studies of OSs and to summarize the
genetic data of OSs.
Keywords :
Cytogenetics; molecular genetics; oncology; osteosarcoma