Thank You

We would like to thank everyone for their time and effort in driving the Sarcoma Accelerator Programme forward despite the many challenges posed by the pandemic in the past year. We also want to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Robin and Paul

Grant Success

Many congratulations to Andrew Beggs for his award of a grant from Sarcoma UK entitled “Leveraging single cell & long read sequencing to unlock the molecular heterogeneity of retroperitoneal sarcoma”.

Accelerator Steering Committee Meeting

Our first Steering Committee Meeting took place on 20th Oct 2020. During the meeting, Robin Jones provided a brief overview of the Accelerator Programme followed by each centre providing a 5-minute overview/update. An update on progress to date, the interruptions caused by COVID-19 and revised milestones was then given before the meeting was opened to Q&A and feedback. Overall, the meeting went well, with very positive feedback received from the external scientific advisors, patient representatives and funders. The next meeting will take place in April 2021.

Accelerator Project Catch-up Meeting

It has been agreed that the Accelerator Project Catch-up Meeting will take place every 2 months and alternate between Tuesdays and Wednesdays to ensure we have representation from across all centres. The purpose of these meetings is to provide an update on each of the Accelerator workstreams and assess progress against deliverables. We had our first Project Catch-up Meeting on 8th September 2020 and our second meeting on 11th November 2020. The next meeting will take place on 12 January 2021.

Study Protocol

• A multi-institutional study protocol has been developed for the UK centres with Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) acting as sponsor and other UK centres listed as sites. The RM Committee for Clinical Research (CCR) had reviewed the study protocol and requested minor changes. The CCR approved protocol will be submitted to HRA / REC and a copy of this study protocol will be shared with Milan and Seville Centres for their study submission to local regulatory bodies.
• The study protocol has been adopted by the Cancer Research UK funded National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator (NCITA).

Retrospective Study

• While the study protocol is progressing through the various regulatory processes, we have been focussing on the retrospective study. We have identified eligible patients with dedifferentiated liposarcoma, synoival sarcoma, MPNST, vascular sarcoma and leiomyosarcoma to enter the retrospective study. A unique identifier string will be developed by the Glasgow Centre to assign to patients.
• A genomic and proteomic pilot study on a small number of retrospective samples is now planned at the ICR and Birmingham Centres, in order to pilot the analysis protocol and workflow.

Working Group Updates

Clinical Data:

• The STRASS2 trial has opened in Spain and France, and with a plan to start in the UK at the end of December 2020.
• The eCRF is in the process of being finalised and the trial database will be built soon after.

Data Transfer:

• An imaging and pathology questionnaire has been developed and circulated to centres, in order to determine imaging and digital pathology protocols at each centre.
• The ICR team will carry out test runs using phantom data on imaging data transfer procedures with individual centres.

Biological Research:

• The clinical sample collection SOPs for the prospective and retrospective studies have been reviewed by all centres and are currently being finalised.

Information Governance / Data Protection

The required form for information governance/data protection is being completed at ICR. Once completed and approved, we will be able to share the information with other centres to help them with their local requirements. Please note that all centres need sign off by their local information governance/data protection teams before data can be transferred.

Recruitment

12 members of staff and 2 PhD students have been appointed or are currently being recruited. Please let Emma Pendleton (Emma.Pendleton@icr.ac.uk) or Yuen-Li Chung (Yuen-Li.Chung@icr.ac.uk) know when you have appointed new staff or students so that the recruitment list for the Accelerator can be kept up to date.

Informal Research Meeting

Our first informal research meeting will take place on 11th February 2021. These informal research meetings focussing on biological and digital research will provide opportunities for labs to share data and exchange ideas between different centres. Joining details for this meeting will be circulated closer to the date.