February 20, 2002
Researchers uncover potential chemotherapy for common bone tumour
Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto have identified the genetic pathway that causes enchondromas, a common form of bone tumour. This finding may lead to a potential chemotherapy for these tumours, where one currently does not exist. This research is reported in the March issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
Enchondromas are common benign cartilage tumours of bone that usually occur next to the growth plate. They can occur as solitary lesions or as multiple lesions in enchondromatosis (Ollier and Maffucci diseases). Clinical problems caused by enchondromas include skeletal deformity and the potential for malignant change to chondrosarcoma, a form of musculoskeletal cancer.
"We discovered a mutation in the signaling pathway that controls how new bone grows. Using a mouse model, we found that this changes the way the cells develop, causing tumours. This discovery suggests that an agent that could block this pathway could be an effective therapy for these tumours," said Dr. Benjamin Alman, the study's co-principal investigator, an SickKids orthopaedic surgeon and scientist, and an associate professor of surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Alman is also a holder of a Tier II Canada Research Chair.
"The only form of treatment currently available for these bone tumours, including the cancerous form, is surgical. This research opens up the possibility for the development of chemotherapy to treat this cancer that largely strikes middle-aged adults," said Dr. Jay Wunder, co-principal investigator on this study. Dr. Wunder is a Mount Sinai Hospital orthopaedic surgeon and scientist, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Toronto, and holder of the Rubinoff-Gross Chair in Orthopaedic Oncology. "Our research is now focused on trying the agents that are known to block this pathway in our animal model."
This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Cancer Institute of Canada and The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation.
The Hospital for Sick Children, affiliated with the University of Toronto, is the largest paediatric academic health science centre in Canada and one of the largest in the world. Its mission is to provide the best in family-centred, compassionate care, to lead in scientific and clinical advancement, and to prepare the next generation of leaders in child health. The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute is a world-class scientific research centre performing basic and clinical research leading to the improved understanding, prevention, treatment and care of children's diseases. For more information, please visit www.sickkids.ca.
Mount Sinai Hospital is a University of Toronto affiliated patient care, teaching and research centre, committed to excellence. The Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute is widely recognized as one of Canada's premier biomedical research institutes with particular strengths in cancer research, maternal and fetal health, diabetes and population health. Mount Sinai's mission is to provide leading edge patient care programs that are research based, to conduct internationally recognized research and to educate future health care practitioners. Mount Sinai's key priorities are work in the fields of Perinatology, Surgical Oncology, Breast Cancer, Musculoskeletal Disease, GI Disease, Molecular and Sub-specialty Medicine.
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