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Advancing Bone Sarcoma Treatment with Strategic Focus on Adolescent and Young Adult Needs

The overarching goal of MD Anderson's Sarcoma SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) is to reduce sarcoma morbidity and mortality through innovative translational research focused on immunologic and targeted treatments.

The program addresses two critical needs:

1. sarcomas are rare and complex, requiring a multidisciplinary, team-based approach
2. sarcomas span pediatric, adolescent-young adult and adult populations, necessitating research that covers all age groups

The team includes clinicians, physician-scientists, statisticians, computational experts and basic/translational scientists from eight departments across five MD Anderson divisions, supported by patient advocates, external advisors and administrative experts. Core resources include a Pathology and Tissue Core for molecular profiling and a Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core for data analysis and risk stratification. Common research themes include targeting the immune system and tumor microenvironment, with a particular emphasis on osteosarcoma, where little progress has been made in over 30 years.