Bone cancer is a complicated problem with shocking statistics. Of those whose wellbeing is affected by bone cancer, 20% die every year. In the UK alone, bone and connective tissue cancer killed more than a thousand people in 2008.
You could argue that where wellness experts were with breast cancer in the 1990s is where they are with the treatment of bone cancer today. The standard treatment is chondrosarcoma which is restricted to removal of the affected part as they are resistant to chemo and radiotherapy. However, with advances in scientific research, and the support of organisations like Cancer Research UK, The Wellcome Trust, and Macmillan Cancer Support, the fight against bone cancer has gathered momentum in recent times, helping to dramatically improve survival rates.
In the 1970s, roughly 50% of women with breast cancer survived the disease beyond five years, but now more than 80% do. The problem with cancer research is that studies into the rarer diseases, such as sarcoma, depend heavily on small charities such as Skeletal Action Cancer Trust, Bone Cancer Research Trust and Sarcoma UK. A large portion of these charities’ funding comes from patients and their families and friends.
Researchers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) have been working on a research project to understand more about bone cancer. The investigators’ findings could soon allow them to develop specific treatments for hundreds of patients with one of the more common forms of the disease. 90 of the 400 cases of primary bone cancer in the UK each year are chondrosarcomas, which is the second most common type of bone cancer. This cancer of the cartilage has been discovered to contain an IDH1 or IDH2 mutation in 50-65% of cases.
As a result of this understanding, the RNOH experts can develop specific drugs which could change the way you’re treated for bone cancer in the future. The benefits of this ground-breaking research was recently recognised, as the team were awarded the Jeremy Jass Prize for Research Excellence in Pathology. The team is now working with the pharmaceutical company Agios and they hope that clinical trials will begin in the near future.
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