Association of ITGA3 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility and clinicopathological characteristics of osteosarcoma

Integrin controls cell adhesion to extracellular matrix and plays an important role in regulating the proliferation and apoptosis of cells. In order to explore the role of ITGA3 gene polymorphisms in the pathogenesis and clinicopathological characteristics of osteosarcoma, we embarked on a study including a group of 118 patients and a group of 126 healthy controls. TaqMan PCR genotyping technology was used to detect the genotypes of ITGA3 gene SNPs (rs2230392, rs2285524 and rs16948627) in the peripheral blood. Then, associations of the SNP (rs2230392, rs2285524 and rs16948627) genotypes with the incidence risk and tumor characteristics of osteosarcoma were evaluated. A significant difference (P = 0.02) in the genotype frequency distribution of rs2230392 was observed between case and control groups. The analysis showed that patients carrying AA genotype had a higher risk of osteosarcoma (OR 2.34, 95 % CI 1.18–4.64) than those with GG genotype. Regarding rs2230392, men carrying AA genotype had a higher risk of osteosarcoma (OR 3.37, 95 % CI 1.25–9.11). Compared with those with GG genotype, patients carrying AA genotype had a twofold increased risk of osteosarcoma metastasis (OR 2.46, 95 % CI 1.09–5.57). Survival analysis showed that for rs2230392, survival time of osteosarcoma patients with three different genotypes was significantly different. Polymorphisms of ITGA3 gene rs2230392 may affect the incidence, metastasis and survival of osteosarcoma, which may clinically become a new target for predicting the risk of osteosarcoma, and have prognostic value.