ANZSA Newsletter - December 2023

ANZSA Newsletter - December 2023

In this issue we are pleased to share with you all the latest news and research updates from the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association since our last edition. 

Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

It was great to have such a favourable turnout of our members – both in person and online - at the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting. The meeting was held in Melbourne, focusing on Using Data to Improve Outcomes: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions.

Overall, we had over 150 registrants for the meeting. In addition to our registrants, we also had over 70 developing international attendees who were given complementary registration to access information that they would otherwise not be able to, taking our total number of registrants to over 220!

This year, we were joined by two esteemed international guest speakers –Professor Ajay Puri (Mumbai, India) and Dr. Jason Hornick (Boston, USA).

Attending the ASM in person, Prof. Puri provided our audience with a review of the past 20 years of innovation in sarcoma research and participated in a lively debate with A/Prof. Peter Grimison looking into whether clinical trial data reflects real life.

While Dr. Hornick could not join us in person, he led the Martin Tattersall Lecture focusing on The Contemporary Role of Molecular Immunohistochemistry in Sarcoma Diagnosis and providing an engaging discussion surrounding the PEComa family of tumours.

Congratulations to Dr. Serena Duchi, the winner of the 2023 Choong-Dickinson Poster Prize Award, for her presentation on the role of cell dose in the treatment of osteosarcoma using stem cells as drug delivery therapy. A special mention to all who submitted an Abstract/ePoster for the event.

On the Friday evening of the meeting, ANZSA celebrated our 15th Anniversary. It was wonderful to have so many of our members, both past and present, in attendance to celebrate all of our achievements as an organisation.

ANZSA would like to extend a big thank you to all of our guest speakers who contributed to the event and all of our members who presented during the meeting. We would also like to thank Dr. Grant Pang and the entire ASM Organising Committee who worked tirelessly to secure our guest speakers and made sure the event ran smoothly.

Thank you to all of the members who attended, and we look forward to welcoming you back next year in Brisbane for the 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting.

Research Updates

ANZSA Sarcoma Guidelines Publication

Congratulations to the ANZSA Sarcoma Guidelines Working Party, for having their work published in Cancer Treatment Reviews. The article Systematic review using PICO model to determine the role of perioperative chemotherapy in retroperitoneal sarcoma – drawing from the conclusions established in one of the existing clinical questions in the sarcoma guidelines.

The guidelines development is an ongoing process and recommendations for other key questions will be released in the future as the working party continues to appraise evidence for the rest of the topics. This series will be updated as new evidence becomes available and at a minimum of every five years.

Read the full article here.

SARC032 Recruitment Achieved

The global recruitment target for the SARC032 clinical trial of 144 has been reached, ending the recruitment stage of the trial. Of the 144 patients recruited globally, 45 have come from Australian sites, including Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Princess Alexandra Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The SARC032 is a multicentre, randomised phase II trial with an initial safety run-in to test the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab with image-guided radiotherapy and adjuvant pembrolizumab compared to radiation therapy alone in patients with clinically localised extremity soft tissue sarcoma at high risk for developing metastatic disease.

MYTH Study Recruits First Patient

The MYTH Study (Methotrexate for AYAs in The Home for adolescent and young adult (AYA) osteosarcoma patients) running out of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse recently recruited their first patient for the study.

The study is led by Dr Elizabeth Connolly, Dr Vivek Bhadri and Dr Jessica Ryan with the aim to give patients the option of treatment out of hospital and hopes to explore their perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of having treatment in this manner

2022 Sarcoma Research Grant Publication

Dr. Sarat Chander – recipient of the ANZSA 2022 Sarcoma Research Grant – recently had his work published in the International Journal of Medical Physics Research and Practice. Dr. Chander’s research grant explores the spatially fractionated radiation therapy for inoperable or metastatic sarcoma, with the featured article looking into the development of an automated treatment planning approach for lattice radiation therapy.

Read the full article here.

New Research Fellowship Applications Opening Soon

Applications for the 2024 ANZSA Clinical Research Fellowship are set to open soon.

The fellowship – co-sponsored by The Kids’ Cancer Project and The Tie Dye Project – aims to support a promising junior clinical researcher, under the mentorship of an experienced ANZSA sarcoma researcher, to conduct a sarcoma clinical research study or clinical trial.

While the objective is to support the best possible research into sarcomas, there are some areas of particular priority that the ANZSA encourages for this grant, such as translational studies and projects that can leverage these results into successful large grant applications.

The fellowship will start in July 2024. Keep an eye out for more information about applying.

New ANZSA Board Directors

Congratulations to our three new appointees to the ANZSA Board of Directors. All Directors were elected in a vote of confidence during our 2023 Annual General Meeting.

A/Prof. Fiona Maclean
Clinical A/Prof. Fiona Maclean BAppSc, MBBS (Hons), FRCPA, GAICD graduated from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours. A/Prof. Maclean holds the position of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University

Dr. Jason Cain
Dr Jason Cain, PhD, is the Research Group Head of the Developmental and Cancer Biology, and the Sarcoma Programs at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. Jason is a developmental and cancer biologist involved in full time discovery and translational research for the last 17 years. He obtained his PhD from Monash University and undertook postdoctoral training at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

Ms. Sarah Cheung
Ms. Sarah Cheung is a chartered accountant and now serves as the chairperson of the Consumer Advisory panel. She first joined ANZSA as a consumer representative in April 2022, having been diagnosed with Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma in early 2021.  She is currently the only representative from NZ and resides in Auckland.

We look forward to working with our new Directors as we move forward into 2024.

Thank you Geoff!

2023 marked the end of Geoff McKinnon's services on the ANZSA Board of Directors and as the Chair of the Consumer Advisory Panel. Geoff decided that he would not stand for re-election at this year’s AGM and would retire from his position at the conclusion of the meeting.

Geoff was first elected to the Board of Directors in 2013 and has played an integral part in the development and growth of ANZSA in the past 10 years. During his time on the Board, Geoff established our Consumer Advisory Panel to provide a strong voice to consumers within the sarcoma community and to recognises the importance of consumer input in sarcoma clinical trials.

Thank you to Geoff for the invaluable contributions you've made to ANZSA over the past ten years, and we wish him the best for his future endeavours.

ANZSA Awards and Recognition Program

The new ANZSA Awards and Recognition program aims to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable successes of ANZSA members and to highlight their achievements within the sarcoma community. These awards also serve as an opportunity for ANZSA to show our appreciation for our members important contributions.

The first award that was presented was the Outstanding Contribution Award. This award showcases the remarkable successes of ANZSA members and to highlight their achievements within the sarcoma community. Receiving this award is ANZSA’s opportunity to show our appreciation for their important contributions.

This years’ recipients were:

• Prof. Paul Stalley
• Prof. David Thomas
• Mrs. Helen Sewell

The second awarded presented was the ANZSA Lifetime Membership. This award highlights the long-standing services of only a select few members of ANZSA who have consistently contributed to the development of ANZSA since its inception.

This years’ recipients were:

• Dr. Ian Dickinson
• Prof. Phillip Crowe
• A/Prof. Susan Neuhaus
• Prof. Peter Choong

Congratulations to all recipients for this award.

RUN4KB

In April this year, Kyle reached out to ANZSA to raise funds for sarcoma research. His goal was to run 441km in seven days in memory of his good friend and mentor under the RUN4KB fundraiser.

Following the completion of the fundraiser in November, Kyle and his team had managed to raise over $145,000 for ANZSA to invest into new and existing sarcoma research. Kyle’s original goal was only to raise $100,000, so this was an incredible amount.

Wanting to continue to raise awareness and money for sarcoma research, Kyle has been appointed as an ANZSA Ambassador and will continue working towards supporting ANZSA and our goals. We are excited to continue to work alongside him as we move into 2024 and beyond.

New Newsletter Format

In 2024, ANZSA members will be receiving our newsletters in a different format. Starting next year, ANZSA will be releasing quarterly newsletters rather than bi-annually as is the current trend.

This decision was made so that our emails will be less content-heavy, allowing for easier reading and accessibility for our members. The new newsletter timeline is as followed:

• February (Quarter 1 Newsletter)
• May (Quarter 2 Newsletter)
• August (Quarter 3 Newsletter)
• December (Quarter 4 Newsletter)

If you have any content that you would like for us to share in our newsletters, please email our Communications Officer (harrison.colwell@petermac.org) who will correspond with you.

Thank you to our donors

ANZSA would like to thank all of our generous donors for their significant contributions and donations towards sarcoma research this year. We rely heavily on these donations to continue our work and we cannot be more grateful for the support we have received so far. Every dollar helps and is invested in high-quality sarcoma research to find a cure and improve outcomes.

A reminder that the ANZSA office will be closed from the 23rd of December - 8th of January.