Genetic and telomere characteristics of high grade soft tissue sarcoma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Genetic profile and telomere characteristics and of high-grade soft tissue sarcomas
IRAS ID
141820
Contact name
Nicholas C Eastley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 27 days
Research summary
Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are a group of cancers that affect many structures including muscles, nerves, tendons and blood vessels. About 3800 new cases are diagnosed annually in the UK, making up 1% of all new adult cancer diagnoses. The treatment of STSs centres on the surgical removal of tumours and radiotherapy. Even after treatment over 50% of tumours return or ‘recur’. This is a difficult problem to manage, and in many cases will be incurable.
Currently there is no test to identify which patients with STS will suffer recurrence. We aim to identify biomarkers, primarily genetic-markers, that distinguish between the patient’s tumour and normal cells. We will develop assays to detect specific biomarkers and determine whether they can be used to track the tumour markers in patients over time. We will investigate the relationship between detection of tumour-specific markers and patient outcome. This may allow doctors to identify patients at ‘at risk’ of relapse or recurrence early, and potentially instigate more aggressive treatments to tackle recurrence.
Patients with STS who are managed by the East Midlands Sarcoma Service will be approached to participate. They will either be treated at the Leicester Royal Infirmary or Nottingham City Hospital. After appropriate consent has been given, tissue samples will be collected and stored in the Nottingham Health Science Biobank. The research on the samples collected from patients will take place at the University of Leicester / Leicester Royal Infirmary.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1192
Date of REC Opinion
28 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion