New research reveals genetic link to most common pediatric bone cancer

The findings could help identify patients with osteosarcoma sooner and lead to personalized treatment

2025-10-09

(Press-News.org) Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, CLEVELAND: Researchers at Cleveland Clinic Children’s have helped identify a previously unknown gene that increases the risk of developing osteosarcoma, the most common type of malignant bone tumor in children and young adults.

Recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers analyzed genetic information from nearly 6,000 children with cancer and compared it to more than 14,000 adults without cancer. Utilizing databases and prediction tools, the study authors focused on 189 genes that participate in several DNA repair pathways.

The results showed that some children with cancer had inherited changes in certain DNA repair genes, that may raise their risk of developing particular cancers. One gene in particular, SMARCAL1 was flagged as a significant risk factor for osteosarcoma. Approximately 2.6% of children with osteosarcoma carry these inherited mutations in SMARCAL1, which may weaken DNA repair and promote tumor growth.

“These findings not only deepen our biological understanding of osteosarcoma, but allows for earlier detection, and the potential for developing targeted treatments for this rare but aggressive cancer,” said senior study author, Richa Sharma, MD, pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s. “With little progress in osteosarcoma treatment over the past 40 years, this discovery could pave the way for significant advancements in care for patients with this condition.”

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, and typically develops in the arms or legs. Symptoms can include bone pain, a lump or swelling, and a bone that breaks easily. Experts estimate that fewer than 1,000 people in the U.S. develop osteosarcoma each year. Around 7 in 10 people survive if the disease doesn’t spread to other parts of the body, but only 2 in 10 children survive if the disease does spread outside the original bone site.

The study was done in collaboration with researchers from St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Mayo Clinic, and Kitz Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg in Germany.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Research conducted during 2024 eclipse reveals importance of light on bird behavior

2025-10-09

Total solar eclipses only happen in the same spot once every 300 or 400 years, so it’s no surprise that a team of researchers at Indiana University jumped on the opportunity to use this natural experiment to better understand how light affects wild birds. Their study, led by Liz Aguilar, was published in the latest edition of Science. Aguilar is a Ph.D. student in Kimberly Rosvall’s lab in the Evolution, Ecology and Behavior program at the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. In ...

Why does female fertility decline so fast? The key is the ovary

2025-10-09

With a new imaging technique, scientists discover an ecosystem that determines how eggs mature and ovaries age. The ticking of the biological clock is especially loud in the ovaries — the organs that store and release a woman’s eggs. From age 25 to 40, a woman’s chance of conceiving each month decreases drastically. For decades, scientists have pointed to declining egg quality as the main culprit. But new research from UC San Francisco and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco shows that the story is bigger than the eggs: The surrounding ...

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds

2025-10-09

When the April 2024 “Great American Eclipse” plunged midday into near-night, the daily rhythms and vocal behaviors of many bird species shifted dramatically; some fell silent, others burst into song, and many erupted into a “false dawn chorus” after the Sun returned, singing as if a new day had begun. In a new study, merging citizen science, machine learning, and a continent-wide natural experiment, researchers reveal the immediate effects of light disruption on bird behavior. The daily and seasonal rhythms of birds are tightly governed by shifts between light and ...

Europe’s largest bats hunt and eat migrating birds on the wing, high in the sky

2025-10-09

To exploit a rich food resource that remains largely inaccessible to most predators, Europe’s largest bat captures, kills, and consumes nocturnally migrating birds in flight high above the ground, according to a new study. The findings confirm this behavior of the greater noctule (Nyctalus lasiopterus) using direct biologger observations. Billions of birds seasonally migrate at night and over long distances at high altitude. These massive flocks represent an enormous – albeit challenging – food resource for predators. Yet only three fast-flying echolocating bat species, including the greater noctule, are known to exploit this opportunity, ...

China’s emerging AI regulation could foster an open and safe future for AI

2025-10-09

In a Policy Forum, Yue Zhu and colleagues provide an overview of China’s emerging regulation for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and its potential contributions to global AI governance. Open-source AI systems from China are rapidly expanding worldwide, even as the country’s regulatory framework remains in flux. In general, AI governance suffers from fragmented approaches, a lack of clarity, and difficulty reconciling innovation with risk management, making global coordination especially hard in the face of rising controversy. Although ...

The secret to naked mole-rat’s longevity: Enhanced DNA repair

2025-10-09

The secret to the naked mole-rats’ extraordinarily long life may lie in subtle changes to just four amino acids, researchers report. According to a new study, evolutionary mutations in cGAS – an enzyme in the innate immune system that senses DNA to trigger immune responses – may enhance the animal’s ability to repair aging-related genetic damage, whereas in other species, such as mice and humans, cGAS can suppress DNA repair. Wrinkled and unassuming though they appear, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is an exceptionally long-lived rodent, with a maximum life span of nearly 40 years – roughly 10 times longer than ...

Acidic tumor environment promotes survival and growth of cancer cells

2025-10-09

Tumors are not a comfortable place to live: oxygen deficiency, nutrient scarcity, and the accumulation of sometimes harmful metabolic products constantly stress cancer cells. A research team from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna has now discovered that the acidic pH value in tumor tissue—known as acidosis—is a decisive factor in how pancreatic cancer cells adapt their energy metabolism in order to survive under these adverse conditions. The results were published in the journal Science. Poor blood circulation and increased metabolic activity often create hostile conditions in tumors: ...

New biosensor tracks plants’ immune hormone in real time

2025-10-09

From willow bark remedies to aspirin tablets, salicylic acid has long been part of human health. It also lies at the heart of how plants fight disease. Now, researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a pioneering biosensor that allows scientists to watch, for the first time, how plants deploy this critical immune hormone in their battle against pathogens. Published today in Science, Dr Alexander Jones’ group at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) presents SalicS1, a genetically encoded biosensor that can detect and track the dynamics of ...

New study finds gaps in REDD+ forest carbon offsets with most overstating climate impacts

2025-10-09

Most REDD+ forest carbon offset projects significantly overstate their climate benefits, according to a new study published in Science. The findings come from an international team of researchers, primarily based at the Guangdong Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy (SZ), China, with contributions from Prof. Dr. Jonathan Chase of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The study analysed 52 REDD+ initiatives, ...

Mystery solved: How Europe’s largest bat catches and eats passerines mid-air

2025-10-09

After nearly 25 years of research, the mystery has finally been solved: Europe’s largest bat doesn’t just eat small birds – it hunts and captures them more than a kilometre above the ground. And it eats them without landing. An international team of researchers has shed light on how Europe’s largest bat hunts and consumes small birds. The results, now published in Science, make for fascinating reading – a story of nocturnal aerial acrobatics, pursuit and predation. Every year, billions of songbirds migrate between their breeding grounds and wintering areas. Many species fly high and travel at night, partly to avoid daytime ...

New research reveals genetic link to most common pediatric bone cancer

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: