We are driven by one goal: to find a cure for chordoma. Success means initiating, enabling, and accelerating scientific discovery that leads to more effective treatments, and ultimately a cure.
With the input of our
Scientific Advisory Board, participants of our
Research Workshops, and a diverse group of scientific experts from around the world, we have created a comprehensive research roadmap for developing new effective treatments for chordoma and improving the lives of chordoma patients. The Chordoma Foundation leads a coordinated, multidisciplinary team-effort to drive this plan forward, and systematically breaks down barriers that stand in the way of progress.
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The roadmap consists of four phases which will ultimately culminate in bringing effective treatments to chordoma patients.
»Resource Development
Develop and share critical resources such as tumor tissue, cell lines, and animal models needed to study the biology of chordoma and test new treatments.
»Molecular Discovery
Analyze chordoma using the most advanced technologies and approaches to uncover the molecular underpinnings of the disease.
»Target Identification
Integrate multiple datasets to generate hypotheses about potential therapeutic targets, and investigate the functional significance of these genes and pathways.
»Translation
Identify and test targeted therapies on in-vitro and in-vivo models, and move the most promising agents into clinical trials.
We are proactively initiating and funding multiple components of this roadmap in parallel to ensure that new treatments are developed as quickly as possible. Currently our efforts and funding focus on the Resource Development and Molecular Discovery modules. Below are descriptions of major projects that are advancing the research roadmap.
» Biobank
» Model Systems
» Drug Repurposing
» Chordoma Genome Project
» Knowledge Exchange
Biobank
Biospecimens are the starting point for virtually all cancer research. However access to high-quality chordoma biospecimens is the biggest obstacle for chordoma research. To solve this problem, the Chordoma Foundation Biobank will proactively collect, analyze, and distribute biospecimens and associated data to and from hospitals and labs across the world. The Biobank will give patients an opportunity to actively participate in the search for a cure by contributing tumor, blood, DNA, and clinical information about their disease. It will also enable researchers from multiple fields to apply the latest scientific advances to understand the cause of chordoma and develop new treatments.
Model Systems
Model systems are research tools that mimic the behavior of human tumors, and allow researchers to study cancer without experimenting on people. They are needed to develop virtually any type of new therapy, however limited availability of valid models of chordoma is preventing progress from being made. Therefore, developing new models is urgently needed to advance research and improve the treatment options available to chordoma patients. We are actively developing a variety of model systems including cell lines, xenographs, and transgenic organisms. Each of these models serves an important purpose, and has its own unique benefits and drawbacks. Using all three models in combination gives scientists the most complete understanding of how the disease works and how to treat it.
Drug Repurposing
Chordoma patients cannot afford to wait decades for new drugs – they need treatments today. What if we could bypass the traditional lengthy drug development process by finding an already-approved drug on the market that could be used to treat chordoma patients today? That’s the goal of a collaborative “drug repurposing” project launched by the Chordoma Foundation in collaboration with the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) and a braintrust of leading oncologists. To identify possible chordoma treatments, the NCGC is screening all 2800+ compounds ever approved for use in humans against chordoma cell lines. This screening searches for drugs that selectively inhibit the growth of chordoma cells at lower doses than normal cells. Such a discovery could bypass years of research and drug development, and could save the lives of chordoma patients who need help now.
Chordoma Genome Project
The Chordoma Genome Project is a collaborative endeavor involving the Chordoma Foundation, the University College London - Cancer Institute in partnership with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hosptial Stanmore,the Sanger Institute, and the National Human Genome Research Institute. The Chordoma Genome Project will involve several different complementary types of genomic analysis, representing the most in-depth study of chordoma or any other rare cancer ever conducted. Its primary aim is to systematically discover the underlying genetic changes that drive chordoma, and that could provide clues to guide the development of new treatment.
Knowledge Exchange
The open exchange of data, resources, and ideas is crucial for making progress towards a cure. To promote communication and collaboration, the Foundation hosts
Research Workshops and coordinates local research meetings and conference calls. Beyond simply connecting researchers, the Foundation proactively distributes new data to labs equipped to follow up on the findings, ensuring that discoveries rapidly progress through the research roadmap. The Foundation acts as a hub to connect and synchronize research teams from around the globe, and we are developing a centralized database to aggregate and compare results generated in multiple labs. Our goal is to make the totality of knowledge about chordoma freely available so that all scientists interested in chordoma can bring their expertise to bear on this disease. To this end, we have also created the
Chordoma Research Wiki: a collaborative continually-growing source of knowledge about chordoma.