Harnessing the Immune System against Osteosarcoma

In the last 30 years there has been very little change to osteosarcoma (OS) treatment. We are dedicated to changing this. Through the Myrovlytis Trust, we fund research into OS, with a focus on finding new treatments. We are pleased to announce we have awarded funding to Dr Wolfgang Paster at the Children’s CancerA disease where cells divide and grow uncontrollably and can spread to other areas of the body. Research Institute, Vienna, Austria.

Cancer immunotherapy, where the patient’s own immune system is boosted to fight the cancer, has transformed the outlook for many cancers. However, for OS this has proven to be challenging. OS tumours are very good at hiding from the body’s own immune system. One of the key players in the immune system are T cells. These cells can recognise and kill target cells, including cancer cells. If we can identify targets of these T cells that are only found in OS cells, we may be able to develop new treatments and overcome some of the previous barriers to immunotherapy.

In this 1 year project, Wolfgang’s team will use cutting edge techniques to identify proteins that are only found in OS tumour samples. They will then test whether these proteins can be recognised by T cells in the laboratory. In the future, they hope that they will be able to use these target proteins as the basis for new therapies such as tumour vaccines.

Watch this short video below from Wolfgang explaining his work or read the project summary. A transcript of the video is also available.

We will continue to fund research into OS and drive forward research. We have just launched our funding round for 2023. Find out more about what we fund and how to apply. We also welcome informal enquiries by email.