Grant Number:	4UH3CA260318-03 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Friedman, Debra
Organization:	Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Project Title:	CAUSAL: Cohort to Augment the Understanding of Sarcoma Survivorship Across the Lifespan
Fiscal Year:	2023

PROJECT SUMMARY Sarcomas represent a rare and highly heterogeneous subtype of tumors that may develop across the lifespan. In the United States (US), there are approximately 14,000 new cases annually, with approximately 65% survival. Aside from those included in pediatric cancer survivor cohort studies, there are no sarcoma survivor cohorts in which to systematically study recurrence, organ toxicity, function, quality of life, and survival as well as their predictors. We propose to address these critical gaps in knowledge by establishing a cohort of approximately 2100 sarcoma survivors through the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) Sarcoma Treatment Center, which is amongst the largest sarcoma programs in the US, in existence since 1987. In this cohort, we will systematically collect repeated information on disease, treatment, response, relapse, treatment-related toxicity, sociodemographics, lifestyle, functional status, quality of life, physical health outcomes, and survival, together with biospecimens (tumor tissue and peripheral blood samples). We hypothesize that: 1) extrinsic factors, tumor biology, and germline genomics contribute to oncologic outcomes and long-term organ toxicity; 2) healthy lifestyle, e.g., high quality of diet, exercise, abstinence from cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking mitigate the adverse health consequences, improve survival and quality of life among sarcoma survivors; and 3) liquid biopsy tools, developed through identifying genomic drivers of sarcoma, will be of predictive and prognostic utility. Our aims for current grant period are to evaluate1) the impact of disease, treatment, sociodemographic and lifestyle contributors on adverse oncologic and non-oncologic outcomes and mortality in the cohort; 2) the role of drug metabolism and DNA repair gene functional polymorphisms, genetically predicted gene expression levels, and polygenic risk scores, on treatment efficacy and therapy-induced normal tissue toxicity; and 3) genomic drivers of sarcoma to develop personalized liquid biopsy assays for monitoring treatment response, recurrence, and minimal residual disease. Establishment of a prospective cohort of sarcoma survivors across the lifespan, with extensive and well characterized clinical and epidemiologic data, patient reported outcomes, tumor tissue and serial blood samples builds a foundation for a long-term prospective investigation on life after sarcoma. This effort is critically important to improve the understanding of a rare tumor affecting the lifespan but seriously underrepresented in research. Identification of health outcomes and their predictive and prognostic factors can lead to precision treatment and survivorship care, which are currently clinically unmet needs.





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