Clinical and basic research into Ewing sarcoma

The researchers and healthcare professionals in Institut Curie’s SIREDO, and in its Somatic Genetics Unit are conducting research into Ewing sarcoma.

Institut Curie has won plaudits for its research ever since its scientists became the first to identify the characteristic transcription factor for Ewing sarcoma over 30 years ago. That “transcript” induces expression of a set of genes that are unique to the tumor. Institut Curie is currently conducting a variety of research projects on Ewing sarcoma, including several with therapeutic or clinical objectives.

They include:

• The development of immunotherapies, with a view to conducting clinical trials using techniques such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy to harness the patient’s own immune system in fighting the cancer;
• Research into circulating tumor DNA and liquid biopsies in conjunction with the Somatic Genetics Unit;
• Evaluation of the COMBINAIR3 therapeutic strategy as a first-line treatment for Ewing sarcoma patients with extrapulmonary metastases, in collaboration with the Centre Léon Bérard, a cancer treatment center in Lyon.

In addition, Institut Curie’s pediatric department holds LRIPH (Research Involving Human Subjects) authorization, issued by the French Regional Health Agency (ARS). As a result, whenever possible and appropriate, children with Ewing sarcoma resistant to conventional treatments can be included in a clinical trial, to give them the benefit of treatments currently under evaluation.