Osteosarcoma

Research

Mayo Clinic researchers are working on several projects related to osteosarcoma and the genetics of osteosarcoma.

Genetic studies of long-term survivors of osteosarcoma who did not receive chemotherapy treatment and their family members
Approximately two dozen patients who had osteosarcoma were treated without chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic before 1960. This study seeks to identify genes that contribute to survival of patients in the absence of chemotherapy.

Genomic assessment of clinical variability in osteosarcoma
This project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is investigating whether gene expression in osteogenic sarcoma can be used to predict the response to chemotherapy. The study seeks to identify genes that correlate with the ability of the chemotherapy to kill the tumor cells. The tumor in each patient is different, and in some patients chemotherapy does not kill all the tumor cells, leaving a high number of tumor cells after surgery. It is not possible to know if chemotherapy will kill all the cells because both types of tumors look the same under a microscope. If the chemotherapy does not kill all the cells the patient has a much higher probability of developing lung metastases (secondary tumors), the main cause of death in patients with osteosarcoma. If it is possible to identify patients likely to have a poor outcome with chemotherapy, they can be offered a different, potentially better treatment involving longer chemotherapy or different chemotherapy agents.

Identification of a novel tumor supressor gene in osteosarcoma
This project examines a gene that may cause osteosarcoma. This study investigates whether osteosarcoma occurs after the loss of a gene that protects against tumor formation, a tumor suppressor gene. If a tumor suppressor gene is identified, it could be used as a marker to identify a family risk of osteosarcoma, permitting the disease to be found earlier and treated sooner.