Dr Katie Finegan
University of Manchester
Awarded: £120,000
The challenge
Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, but it is very challenging to treat. This is because it spreads easily to other parts of the body. If osteosarcoma hasn’t spread, 70% of patients will survive for 5 years after their diagnosis, as long as their cancer hasn’t spread. But for 1 in 5 patients, their osteosarcoma will have already spread to other parts of the body by the time their cancer is diagnosed, and when this happens, the 5-year survival rate could drop to as low as 20%.
How will this project tackle this challenge?
Inside all cancers are cells from our immune system. Some immune cells try and attack the cancer, whilst other immune cells are “hijacked” by the cancer to help it grow. We know there is a link between the types of immune cells and how they all work together and how well a cancer responds to treatment. Research in other cancers has helped doctors to predict which patients will do well with which treatment and has led to new treatments that improve survival. However, there is very little cancer research into the overall makeup of immune cells in osteosarcoma.
The project, led by Dr Katie Finegan, will explore how different types of cells in our immune system are linked to how well osteosarcoma responds to treatment. They will do this by looking at a signalling pathway, which are groups of molecules which messages in our cells to ensure they work properly.
Dr Finegan and her colleagues have found that one signalling pathway is important in how well a patient responds to treatment for their cancer. However, we know very little about how this works in osteosarcoma.
Under Dr Finegan’s supervision, a PhD student will investigate if blocking this pathway will help show which osteosarcoma patients are likely to respond to certain treatments. They will do this by testing drugs on real patient cells which can grow in the lab.
What this means for people affected by sarcoma
No new treatments have been developed for over 40 years, so options are urgently needed to ensure that each person with osteosarcoma gets the right treatment for them.
The team hope that this research will show which patients are likely to respond to certain treatments, so that people with osteosarcoma can be put on the most effective treatment plan.
We know there is a link between the types of immune cells and how they all work together and how well a cancer responds to treatment – but there is very little research into how this is important for osteosarcoma.
