Merging Therapies to Improve Osteosarcoma Outcomes

SUMMARY: Researchers will study whether a combination of targeted radiation therapy and a novel immune cell homing material can provide body-wide protection against osteosarcoma.

THE PROBLEM: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common bone cancer in dogs, affecting the long bones of mostly large and giant breeds of dog. The standard treatment for OS is amputation of the limb followed by a course of chemotherapy. As OS grows within a bone, surrounding bone is destroyed which causes severe pain which impacts a dog’s quality of life. Amputation surgery is often performed to remove the bone cancer and source of pain. However, surgery is not always a good choice or may not be wanted by the pet owner. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has become a favorable option for dogs with OS. This form of treatment is becoming more widely available and is effective for controlling OS growth within the bone and notably improves pain control. Sadly, if local bone cancer is controlled with surgery or SBRT, dogs still die from OS progression at other sites (most frequently in the lungs).

THE PROJECT: Interestingly, SBRT can alert the immune system and has the potential to change the standards of treatment for OS. This project aims to kill OS cells in a way that makes them more visible to the immune system and combine SBRT with the researcher’s unique immune cell homing material to generate an effective cancer vaccine effect. The team expects SBRT will cause immunogenic death of OS cells, which will be readily detected by locally concentrated immune cells. These immune cells will then direct an immune response that provides body-wide protection against OS.

POTENTIAL IMPACT: Successful completion of the proposed research will result in an effective vaccination strategy that can maximize the benefit of radiation therapy.