Array comparative genomic hybridization in osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma, the most frequent primary bone tumor, is a malignant mesenchymal sarcoma with a peak incidence in young children and adolescents. Left untreated, it progresses relentlessly to local and systemic disease, ultimately leading to death within months. Genomically, osteosarcomas are aneuploid with chaotic karyotypes, lacking the pathognomonic genetic rearrangements characteristic of most sarcomas. The familial genetics of osteosarcoma helped in elucidating some of the etiological molecular disruptions, such as the tumor suppressor genes RB1 in retinoblastoma and TP53 in Li-Fraumeni, and RECQL4 involved in DNA repair/replication in Rothmund-Thomson syndrome. Genomic profiling approaches such as array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) have provided additional insights concerning the mechanisms responsible for generating complex osteosarcoma genomes. This chapter provides a brief introduction to the clinical features of conventional osteosarcoma, the predominant subtypes, and a general overview of materials and analytical methods of osteosarcoma aCGH, followed by a more detailed literature overview of aCGH studies and a discussion of emerging genes, molecular mechanisms, and their clinical implications, as well as more recent application of integrative genomics in osteosarcoma. aCHG is helping elucidate genomic events leading to tumor development and evolution as well as identification of prognostic markers and therapeutic targets in osteosarcoma.