2025 Connective Tissue Oncology Society
The Synovial Sarcoma Foundation is excited to share that we are on site this week at the 2025 Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida. This global event brings together leading researchers, oncologists, and experts in sarcoma to discuss the latest data-driven advancements in diagnosis, treatment, and clinical trials. Representing our Board of Directors are Laura Spence, Chas Spence, Nathan Imperiale, and Eddie Cohen.
Joining from our key foundation partner, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), are:
- Dr. Theodore Laetsch – Director, Developmental Therapeutics & Very Rare Malignant Tumors Program; Chief Medical Advisor and Chair, SSF Medical Advisory Board
- Dr. Jacquelyn Crane – Attending Physician, Oncology; leads early-phase trials for sarcomas
- Dr. Rachel Hurley – Hematology/Oncology Fellow; focuses on synovial sarcoma tumor-microenvironment and immunotherapy resistance
- Dyani Melissa Rivera – Clinical Research Coordinator; manages CHOP’s Synovial Sarcoma Registry, Biospecimen Repository, and precision medicine protocols
A major milestone:
Our Synovial Sarcoma Registry and Biorepository, built directly from our patient-reported data, biospecimens, and clinical records, was selected as a featured poster presentation at CTOS 2025. This dataset, now comprising over 100 cases, is informing real-time research.
Highlights:
In partnership with US WorldMeds, which acquired Adaptimmune earlier this fall, the Foundation is proud to host an exclusive reception and dinner for 30 of the world’s leading sarcoma oncologists. We will showcase the impact of patient-powered research through our registry and biorepository, and announce the Phase III expansion of our research program. Building on prior phases, this multi-million-dollar investment will fund four targeted opportunities to accelerate breakthroughs:
- Expanding Biospecimen Repository & Clinical Registry by Scaling to 4-5 centers of excellence, onboarding site coordinators and delivering protocol funding to grow consented cases, ensure proper tissue preservation, and launch pre-clinical organoid models for testing—harnessing community data for deeper disease understanding and personalized medicine.
- Advancing Preclinical Research: Recruit a visionary synovial sarcoma researcher to spearhead studies into novel immunotherapies, individualized medicine, and targeted molecular therapies, seeding the pipeline for next-gen treatments.
- Understanding Synovial Sarcoma Recurrence: Investigate mechanisms of recurrence to generate actionable knowledge for improved disease management and novel drug targets, addressing the ~40% relapse risk in high-grade cases.
- Pursuing Target Discovery for Novel Cellular Therapies:. Deploy CHOP/Penn-developed technologies to identify additional cell therapy targets, expanding beyond MAGE-A4 to enhance TCR and adoptive cell options for unresectable/metastatic disease.
These initiatives will deepen mechanistic insights, empower investigators with collaborative infrastructure, and translate data into therapeutic strategies—ultimately improving NED rates and quality of life for all ages.
