BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel non-coding RNAs that have important roles in tumor progression. This study aimed to measure the levels of hsa_circ_0000885 in serum samples and tumor tissue from patients with osteosarcoma compared with controls and to evaluate the findings with disease-free survival and overall survival.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty pairs of osteosarcoma tissues and matched adjacent normal tissue were obtained from patients who underwent the same chemotherapy regimen before surgery. Blood samples were obtained from 30 patients with osteosarcoma before and after chemotherapy, 25 patients with osteosarcoma before and after surgery, 27 patients with benign bone tumors, and 25 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls. Circular RNA sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to analyze hsa_circ_0000885 expression.

RESULTS: Hsa_circ_0000885 expression was significantly increased in tissue and serum samples from patients with osteosarcoma, compared with controls, with significantly increased expression levels in patients with Enneking stage IIB and III osteosarcoma, compared with early-stage osteosarcoma. Patients with high serum and tumor levels of hsa_circ_0000885 had lower rates of disease-free survival and overall survival. The serum expression levels of hsa_circ_0000885 were significantly higher in patients with osteosarcoma compared with patients with benign bone tumors or healthy controls.

CONCLUSIONS: Hsa_circ_0000885 was upregulated in osteosarcoma, and it could serve as a good prognostic biomarker indicating poor clinical outcomes of osteosarcoma. Hsa_circ_0000885 was upregulated in serum of osteosarcoma patients and could serve as a good diagnostic biomarker for osteosarcoma.

Keywords: Biological Markers, Osteosarcoma, RNA, Untranslated, Biomarkers, Tumor, Bone Neoplasms, RNA, RNA, Circular, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sequence Analysis, RNA