Background: Uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS) is a type of rare and aggressive tumor. The standard treatment for UCS involves surgical treatment followed by radiochemotherapy. Clinical outcomes of UCS patients are poor due to high metastasis and relapse rate. Therefore, new targeted therapy strategies for UCS are needed. Because UCS is highly heterogenous, it is critical to identify and develop prognostic biomarkers to distinguish molecular subtypes of UCS for better treatment guidance.
Methods: Using gene expression profiles and clinical follow-up data, we developed an online consensus survival analysis tool named OSucs. This web tool allows researchers to conveniently analyze the prognostic abilities of candidate genes in UCS.
Results: To test the reliability of this server, we analyzed five previously reported prognostic biomarkers, all of which showed significant prognostic impacts. In addition, ETV4 (ETS variant transcription factor 4), ANGPTL4 (Angiopoietin-like protein 4), HIST1H1C (Histone cluster 1 H1 family member c) and CTSV (Cathepsin V) showed prognostic potential in a molecular subtype-specific manner.
Conclusion: We built a platform for researchers to analyze if genes have prognostic potentials in UCS.
Keywords: gene expression profiling; molecular subtype; prognostic biomarker; survival analysis tool; uterine carcinosarcoma.