LDHB may be a significant predictor of poor prognosis in osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in children and young adults. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is considered as the key glycolytic enzyme and involved in tumor initiation and metabolism. Here, we firstly found that LDHB was highly expressed in osteosarcoma cell lines. Expression profiling indicated that LDHB mRNA was elevated in osteosarcoma tissues with metastasis versus without metastasis, and LDHB high expression predicted a poor prognosis in patients. After LDHB knockdown by siRNA transfection, cell growth and proliferation were inhibited and presented a dose-dependent cell death via MTT assay. Meanwhile, wound healing and matrigel invasion assay revealed that LDHB knockdown inhibited migration and invasion activities in osteosarcoma cells. We further constructed tissue microarray in 40 osteosarcoma tissues. Correlation between LDHB and clinicopathological features indicated that LDHB expressions were associated with tumor TNM stage, recurrence and survival. Kaplan-Meier survival curve revealed that overall survival was significantly decreased in patients with high expression of LDHB. Patients with recurrence or advanced stage showed an increased LDHB, suggesting that increased LDHB was closely associated with a poor prognosis in osteosarcoma patients. Thus, LDHB can be considered as a prognostic marker for tumor recurrence and poor overall survival in osteosarcoma.