We recently developed a 3D sarcosphere model for osteosarcoma and used it to screen a panel of 114 FDA-approved oncology drugs. HDACi's and proteasome inhibitors were the top drug classes in the screen. Extensive follow-up experiments showed that romidepsin is the most effective HDACi at inhibiting growth and stemness of the sarcospheres, both in the absence and presence of standard-of-care chemotherapy.
Next steps include:
Determine the most effective proteasome inhibitors in the 3D sarcosphere platform.
Determine whether romidepsin inhibits growth of osteosarcoma metastases in murine in vivo models both in the absence and presence of standard-of-care chemotherapy.
Determine whether romidepsin and proteasome inhibitors are more effective in combination than separately in the sarcosphere and murine models.
Determine cellular and molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the effects of romidepsin and the proteasome inhibitors.
Future Directions include development of patient-derived sarcospheres and integration of our sarcosphere studies with the genomic personalized-medicine approaches currently utilized by Drs. Renbarger, Pollok, and Marshall.
Post-doctoral Fellowship - Washington University, St. Louis, MO 1987-1990
Ph.D. - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 1987
