Expression and Clinical Significance of ACTA2 in Osteosarcoma Tissue

Objective: To investigate the expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2) in osteosarcoma tissues and its relationship with prognosis.Methods: Prognostic analysis of lung metastasis-related genes in osteosarcoma using the TCGA database. Single-cell sequencing detected the expression of ACTA2 in 11 osteosarcoma tissues. Paraffin-embedded tissues of 74 osteosarcoma patients treated at the Sixth People's Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University from 2014 to 2019 were collected, and tissue microarrays were prepared. ACTA2 expression was detected and scored by immunohistochemistry. According to the median value of the ACTA2 histochemical score, 74 patients were divided into two groups, the high-expression group and low-expression group, and the relationship of expression with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis was analyzed by Cox regression.Results: Through analysis of ACTA2 expression by single-cell sequencing of osteosarcoma samples together with an immuno-microarray, we found moderate ACTA2 expression. Upon analyzing the prognostic impact of ACTA2, CCL2, TGFBI, VEGFA, PDGFB, PDGFC, COL1A1, COL14A1, CXCL12, CXCL14, CSPP1, LUM, DES, MYL9, and SFRP2 on osteosarcoma patients using the TCGA database, we found that patients with high ACTA2 expression had a significantly better prognosis than those with low ACTA2 expression. Patients with high expression of ACTA2 in osteosarcoma lung metastases showed longer progression-free survival and overall survival than those with low expression.Conclusion: High expression of ACTA2 in patients with osteosarcoma lung metastasis suggests a better prognosis.