TARGET Osteosarcoma (OS)
Program Description
The TARGET Osteosarcoma project used comprehensive molecular characterization to determine the genetic changes that drive the initiation and progression of high-risk or hard-to-treat childhood cancers.
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of bone cancer in children and adolescents. It is most frequently diagnosed in adolescent patients experiencing periods of rapid growth. As with other childhood cancers being studied by TARGET, improvements in survival outcomes for OS have plateaued despite attempts in refining the standard treatment protocol. Additionally, patients endure rigorous therapy regimens regardless of whether the disease is localized or metastatic. Thus, targeted therapies have the potential to enhance the survival and quality-of-life of patients with this disease. To learn more about Osteosarcoma and current treatment strategies, visit the NCI osteosarcoma website.
TARGET investigators have analyzed tumors from pediatric patients to identify biomarkers that correlate with poor clinical outcome or new therapeutic approaches to treat childhood OS. The tissues used in this study were collected from patients enrolled in Children's Oncology Group (COG) biology studies and clinical trials and through collaborations with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), Chiba Cancer Center (Chiba, Japan), and the Pediatric Oncology Institute (Sao Paolo, Brazil).
TARGET OS molecular characterization analyses include gene expression array, copy number array, methylation, whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing, miRNA-seq, and mRNA-seq. Details on the methodology for each of these can be found on the TARGET Project Experimental Methods Page. Please visit the TARGET Osteosarcoma website for additional details about the TARGET OS project.