Clinical Trials & Research

Clinical Trials

Johns Hopkins Clinical Trials: Choose from Adult or Pediatric lists

• Children's Oncology Group (COG) Clinical Trials
• Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Clinical Trials
• Online Sarcoma Resources

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with a sarcoma, we urge you to consult an expert who sees many sarcoma patients each month. Such doctors are found at specialist hospitals particularly NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers.

For a list of such centers, click here. This is the single most important piece of advice or information we can offer.

Research

The following information describes a sampling of sarcoma research underway at Johns Hopkins.

Kristy Weber, M.D. (Orthopaedic Oncology)

Dr. Weber's interests in sarcoma research include studying metastatic osteosarcoma. She and her laboratory colleagues have developed a mouse model that mimics metastasis where injection of osteosarcoma cells leads to spread of the diseased cells to the lungs. Preliminary work involving blockade of the IGF-R1 signaling pathway has been successful in reducing or eliminating the lung lesions in this model. Further work with small molecule inhibitors in this animal model may be translated to the clinical situation if successful.

David M. Loeb, M.D., Ph.D. (Pediatric Oncology)

Dr. Loeb is an active member of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation team. The team provides comprehensive care for children who need high dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation for a wide variety of conditions, both malignant and nonmalignant. As a member of this team, Dr. Loeb has opened two clinical trials. The first of these investigates the efficacy of high dose cyclophosphamide for severe autoimmune enteropathy. While this is a very rare diagnosis, Johns Hopkins has been a leader in applying the immunoablative effect of high dose cyclophosphamide to the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases. This protocol extends the number and type of diagnoses to which this treatment could be applied. In addition, Dr. Loeb is the principal investigator on a protocol using high dose 153Sm for the treatment of high risk osteogenic sarcoma. This is an example of the use of targeted therapy for the treatment of cancer. Samarium-153-EDTMP targets a radioisotope to areas of rapid bone turnover, such as bony metastases from osteogenic sarcoma. Because the sole significant toxicity of this therapy is myelosuppression, autologous peripheral blood stem cell support is utilized to allow treatment with higher doses of radiation. This protocol expands upon another Johns Hopkins clinical trial using the same compound in an attempt to incorporate targeted radiotherapy into the upfront treatment of high risk osteosarcoma.

David Ettinger, M.D. (Adult Medical Oncology)

Dr. Ettinger is part of the Hopkins multidisciplinary team that is developing new treatment strategies to treat sarcomas in adults. He is a co-chairman of the national RTOG phase II study of pre-operative radiation therapy and Thalidomide (IND 48832; NSC 66847) for low grade primary soft tissue sarcoma or pre-operative MAID/Thalidomide/radiation therapy for high/intermediate grade primary soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity or body wall.

Video: Meet Deb Frassica, M.D., Radiation Oncology ...

Meet Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center's Radiation Oncologist, Deb Frassica and listen to her dicuss sarcoma treatment at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Date: 07/20/2010

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Deborah A. Frassica, M.D. (Adult Radiation Oncology)

 Dr. Frassica oversees the Radiation Oncology Center at Green Spring Station, which provides external beam radiation treatment for adult patients. Her primary interests are in musculoskeletal, breast, and colorectal cancers. The center participates in clinical trials under the auspices of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, and The Johns Hopkins University.

Moody Wharam, Jr., M.D. (Pediatric Radiation Oncology)

Dr. Wharam's research is focused on improving the treatment of children with cancer of several specific types including, rhabdomyosarcoma, other soft tissue sarcomas, various rare tumors, and intracranial germinoma. Specific aims are to study how to most effectively utilize radiation therapy in the management of pediatric tumors with regard to the specific issues of indications, timing, sequence with chemotherapy, treatment volume, and dose intensity; and to assess the late effects of cranial radiotherapy in brain tumor patients as well as the impact of second look surgery in rhabdomyosarcoma patients.