In 2019, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center became the 26th member of the Precision Oncology Alliance of leading U.S. oncology centers.

The Precision Oncology Alliance, led by Caris Life Sciences, is a group of academic and community-based cancer institutions that have come together to share molecular data that is essential for modern cancer research. Access to larger data sets is especially important for rare cancers because single cancer centers might not have enough patient data to adequately power research, according to Jonathan C. Trent, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and director of the sarcoma oncology group at Sylvester.

“We have collected data on about 150 angiosarcoma patients with detailed molecular analyses thanks to the Alliance. The Sylvester database alone had 40 patients. The Alliance’s data gave us more information to work with as we try to understand what’s causing this cancer and whether there’s a targeted therapy or an immunotherapy to treat it,” said Dr. Trent, who is also associate director for clinical research at Sylvester.

The National Cancer Institute has invested heavily in research aimed at uncovering causes of common and rare cancers, including understanding the specific mutations that turn normal cells into cancer cells.

“Many of these have been described now. But there remain many cancers for which we still don’t know the driver mutations which are responsible for all the bad things a cancer cell does, including proliferating, thriving, and spreading. Sylvester is among the research institutions that have helped to develop new targeted therapies that take aim at driver mutations and shut them down, with little effect on normal cells. The pooled data from the Precision Oncology Alliance will help to further that research for all member institutions,” said Dr. Trent.