UCI's doctor, colleagues earn Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughan Award for osteosarcoma work

UC Irvine's Dr. Bang H. Hoang and colleagues have been presented the 2011 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughan Award for their work advancing the understanding of how bone cancer spreads.

The award, which comes with a $20,000 grant, was announced at the recent American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting. Since 1950, it has been considered one of the most prestigious honors bestowed by the AAOS and the Orthopaedic Research Society.

"Osteosarcoma is an aggressive cancerous bone tumor that appears primarily in children and is prone to spread from its primary location," said Hoang, a surgeon and researcher at UC Irvine's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. "By understanding and explaining the underlying mechanisms for tumor progression, we hope eventually to develop therapies benefiting patients with sarcomas that are currently untreatable."

Though osteosarcoma can be treated in 60 percent to 70 percent of patients, the five-year survival rate for those who relapse is only 20 percent. With no significant change in bone cancer survival rates for the past two decades, Hoang sought to understand how inhibiting the Wnt pathway - a network of proteins linked to the progression of cancer - might suppress tumor growth and metastasis.

This work is reflected in his study, "Toward Novel Therapeutic Intervention for Osteosarcoma: Clinical Implications of the Wnt Pathway," co-authored by UC Irvine Drs. Yi Guo and Xiaolin Zi, as well as former UC Irvine Dr. Randall F. Holcombe.