Awf Abdul Rahman Al-Khan
Third Year, PhD in Biomedical Sciences,
RMIT University
Title of the research project:
Using of canine models to sub-classifying and understanding of human osteosarcoma:
toward identifying novel markers.
Abstract:
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of malignant primary bone tumor in both
humans and dogs. It commonly occurs in children and adolescents. OS is defined as the malig-
nancy which originates from bone forming mesenchymal cells. Furthermore, it is known as
the tumor of malignant spindle-cell in which tumor cells produce immature osteoid or
cartilage or both.
In the last 30 years, there has not been much improvement in the treatment of OS and its
prognosis, especially for patients with metastatic OS. The reason behind this is the unavaila-
bility of novel markers that can help to design new chemotherapeutic agents. Moreover,
there is an absence of confirmed prognostic tumor markers which might help in categorizing
patients for risk-based treatment. Furthermore, there is still currently no large scale study
that has investigated the correlation between histological subtypes and the survival of the
patient. This study aims to:
- Validate canine OS as a good model for human OS using of known tumor markers panel.
- Investigate if each of the histological subtypes has a distinct genetic profile.
- Correlate detailed clinical follow up data to histological subtypes, gene expression profiles
and patient survival.
One hundred paraffin embedded canine OS tissues were collected from Bristol University
Veterinary Pathology Department (UK) and from Australian Specialized Animal Pathology
Laboratory. These fixed tumor tissues were subjected to an immunohistochemistry panel
that had previously been used to classify human OS (vimentin, alkaline phosphatase, neuron
specific enolase, desmin and S100).
The overall objective of this study is to improve our understanding of this disease and to find
a novel chemotherapy target.
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