The Clinical and Cellular Landscape of DKK1 in Osteosarcoma

Tumor DKK1 expression in osteosarcoma is linked to worse overall survival and metastasis-free survival, with pooled hazard ratios of 1.35 and 1.48 per SD increase.

• Why it matters: It remains unclear how DKK1’s circulating behavior, prognostic value, and cellular/tissue localization relate to osteosarcoma progression.
• What they did: In 34 patients, longitudinal plasma DKK1 was modeled with mixed-effects methods, while two transcriptomic cohorts and single-cell transcriptomics plus immunohistochemistry assessed expression and survival.
• The result: Circulating DKK1 declined by 12.4% per 30-day period during treatment, and higher levels were associated with metastatic presentation and poor histologic response.

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