SARC gets $11.5m grant for sarcoma translational research

The Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant, spread over for a five-year period, is expected to identify new therapies to treat sarcoma.

Sarcoma is a relatively rare cancer that may occur in the bones and the soft connective tissues, like muscle and fat.

The SARC SPORE, led by SARC, is designed to understand the underlying biology of sarcoma better and develop new diagnostic tests and therapies for its patients.

The collaboration brings together researchers from the Harvard Cancer Center, the NCI, the University of Michigan Cancer Center, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Cancer Research and Biostatistics (CRAB) and Columbia University.

SARC SPORE program director and principal investigator Raphael Pollock said the project has the potential to provide major therapeutic advances for sarcomas.

SARC president and chief operating officer Denise Reinke said,"Given the rarity of sarcoma, a well-planned and organized collaboration among dedicated sarcoma experts is needed to accelerate translational research."

As part of the research, SARC and the SARC SPORE members will jointly work with existing SPORE projects in other tumor types to study and share the data and information needed for sarcoma research and patient care.

Several laboratory and clinical projects are lined up to study the sarcoma progression and its spread on the cellular and molecular basis by evaluating he metastatic cascade and the genes and signaling pathways that control the disease.

The research, which includes a Developmental Projects Program, will also focus on molecularly-driven diagnostic approaches that help in early detection of primary as well as metastatic/recurrent sarcoma.