Immune Modulating Therapy

Multi-disciplinary Research Team Receives St. Baldrick’s Grant to Research Cures for Osteosarcoma

Alex Huang, MD, PhD, leads a multi-disciplinary team of scientists to study targeted approaches to effectively eliminate pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients. A three-year $1.35 million grant from the Osteosarcoma Collaborative and St. Baldrick’s Foundation supports Dr. Huang and his team's efforts to find a cure for osteosarcoma.  Dr. Huang, co-leader of the Hematopoietic and Immune Cancer Biology Program of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and his team are working on gaining novel insights into how different immune system cells work within metastatic osteosarcoma tumor sites in lung tissue.

 

The multi-disciplinary research team is comprised of investigators from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, and industry partners. Outcomes for metastatic osteosarcoma have not improved much over the last few decades despite efforts to optimize conventional chemotherapies.

Pulmonary osteosarcoma metastasis responds poorly to conventional chemotherapy. Dr. Huang's work will mitigate this clinical challenge by understanding how macrophages support osteosarcoma growth in lung tissue. In addition, his work will provide a foundation for exploiting cell-adhesion signaling as a concept for immunotherapy approaches to this deadly disease.