Singe nucleotide polymorphisms in osteosarcoma: Pathogenic effect and prognostic significance

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a common malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. Pathogenesis and prognosis of OS can be associated with several environmental and genetic factors. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are crucial genetic changes that can be involved in clinical and therapeutic outcomes of OS. The aim of this review is to present a synopsis of the role of SNPs in pathogenesis and prognosis of OS tumor cells as well as their potential as therapeutic targets to improve the outcomes of patients. The content used in this paper has been obtained by an electronic databases search of English language (1998–2018) articles using the terms “Single nucleotide polymorphisms”, “Osteosarcoma”, “Pathogenesis”, “Prognosis”, and “Clinical Outcomes”. SNPs can affect a number of biological processes such as proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion, invasion, and drug resistance of OS tumor cells, playing a key role in pathogenesis, prognosis, and clinical outcomes after chemotherapy in this disease. Considering the importance of SNPs in OS pathophysiology, these genetic changes may be used as potential pathogenic and prognostic biomarkers for OS. It is hoped that targeting these changes using new therapeutic approaches leads to the effective treatment of this debilitating tumor. However, better understanding of OS biology and further clinical trials are needed to achieve this goal. •Numerous SNPs have been implicated in OS pathogenesis and prognosis.•Clinical outcomes and metastasis predisposition of OS can be associated with the incidence of SNPs.•SNPs in multiple metabolic enzymes of chemotherapy drugs can be associated with drug resistance in OS.•SNPs can be new therapeutic targets in OS.