Professor Nancy DeMore

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“We’re really passionate about trying to develop a new therapy that could improve survival for osteosarcoma patients”

Professor Nancy DeMore
Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Medical University of South Carolina, USA

Combination Therapy with a HuMAb to SFRP2 for Metastatic Osteosarcoma

Research Summary

Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. If feasible the primary tumor is resected surgically, with both neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy delivered. However even with standard chemotherapy, only two‐thirds of patients with initially resectable disease are cured, with long‐term survival occurring in <30% of patients with metastatic or recurrent tumors.

The lung is involved in 80% of cases with metastatic disease and subsequent respiratory distress is responsible for most of the fatalities. All patients, even non-metastatic receive high dose cytotoxic chemotherapy treatments containing Doxorubicin, Cisplatin and Methotrexate. Unfortunately these treatments are often toxic and not effective in eradicating disseminated metastases.

Secreted frizzled related protein 2 (SFRP2) is a secreted protein involved in tumor growth. There is growing evidence that strongly supports the contribution of SFRP2 to osteosarcoma metastases. The Klauber-DeMore lab has developed a novel humanized monoclonal antibody to SFRP2 (hSFRP2 mAb) that is efficacious at inhibiting metastatic osteosarcoma growth in pre-clinical models as monotherapy, and is additive in effect with immunotherapy.

The purpose of this proposal is to test the combination of the hSFRP2 mAb with other biologic therapies and chemotherapy to see if there is an additive effect at inhibiting metastatic osteosarcoma growth in mouse models.

This data will help guide combination therapy for future clinical trials. We also aim to develop a blood test to evaluate response to therapy to ultimately be used in the clinic.

The Myrovlytis Trust are delighted to be co-funding this project with the Bardo Foundation.