Identification of co-expression modules and pathways correlated with osteosarcoma and its metastasis

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma is the most common bone tumor that occurs in children. METHODS: To identify co-expression modules and pathways correlated with osteosarcoma and its clinical characteristics, we performed weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) on RNA-seq data of osteosarcoma with 52 samples. Then we performed pathway enrichment analysis on genes from significant modules. RESULTS: A total of 5471 genes were included in WGCNA, and 16 modules were identified. Module-trait analysis identified that a module involved in microtubule bundle formation, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450, and IL-17 signaling pathway was negatively correlated with osteosarcoma and positively correlated with metastasis; a module involved in DNA replication was positively correlated with osteosarcoma; a module involved in cell junction was positively correlated with metastasis; and a module involved in heparin binding negatively correlated with osteosarcoma. Moreover, expression levels in four of the top ten differentially expressed genes were validated in another independent dataset. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis might provide insight for molecular mechanisms of osteosarcoma. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12957-019-1587-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.