Cancer

Patient sample and mouse studies suggest inhibiting tissue factor could help treat metastatic osteosarcoma. In patient tumor samples, levels of histone H3 methylation at an enhancer sequence upstream of the TF gene -- a marker of enhanced TF transcription -- were higher in metastatic lung tumors than in primary tumors. In ex vivo lung tissue from two xenograft mouse models of metastatic osteosarcoma, tumor-specific knockdown of TF decreased metastasis compared with normal TF expression. In one of the models, tumor-specific knockdown of TF increased survival compared with normal expression and anti-TF mAbs decreased metastasis to the lung compared with a control IgG. In an orthotopic xenograft mouse model of metastatic osteosarcoma, tumor-specific knockdown of TF decreased metastasis to the lung. Next steps could include testing other TF inhibitors in models of metastatic osteosarcoma...