Clinical Trial: Chordoma Family Study

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: The Chordoma Family Study: A Pilot Collaboration Between NCI and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to Identify Chordoma Families

Brief Summary:

This pilot study, conducted by the National Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital, will investigate genetic factors that contribute to the development of chordoma in people from some families. Chordoma is a very rare, potentially fatal, slow-growing bone tumor derived from remnants of embryonic material. This study will determine the feasibility of conducting a larger study aimed at identifying new families with multiple members affected by chordoma to study the genetic basis of the disease.

English-speaking persons diagnosed with chordoma when they were 18 years of age or younger and who were treated at the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology between 1988 and the end of the study period may be eligible for this protocol. The age range of these patients is currently from about 5 months to 33 years.

Patients (or parents of minor patients) will be mailed a packet with instructions for completing the following procedures at home:

• Provide permission for researchers to obtain medical records relating to the patient's chordoma and any other serious medical conditions he or she has had, and to obtain a piece of the patient's stored tumor tissue.
• Complete a questionnaire about the patient's close blood relatives, including parents, brothers, sisters, and any more distant relatives who have had chordoma or a cancer or tumor which started in the brain or spine. The questionnaire will also include demographic information, such as education, marital status, ethnicity, religion, and household income.
• Collect two samples of cheek cells (only from patients 6 years and older). Patients' packets include instructions and materials for collecting
  

  Detailed Summary:

  Chordoma is a rare, slow growing, potentially fatal bone tumor derived from remnants of vestigial or ectopic notochord. It occurs almost exclusively in the axial skeleton (skull base, vertebrae, sacrum and coccyx), is somewhat more frequent in males than females, and has a median age at diagnosis of 58.5 years, with a range from early childhood to over 70 years. This typically sporadic tumor usually presents at an advanced stage and the associated mortality is high due to local destruction or distant metastases.

  Recently, we identified several families with chordoma in multiple relatives in a pattern consistent with transmission of an autosomal dominant trait. Using clinical and genotyping information from three such families, we mapped a familial chordoma gene to chromosome 7q33. Now, we need to identify more multiplex chordoma families to participate in studies to fine map and clone this gene. To do this, we established collaboration with Dr. Norbert Liebsch, Department of Radiation Oncology (DRO), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston. Since 1975, this department has treated ~500 patients with chordoma of the skull base or cervical spine from all over the world; about 400 of these patients speak English.

  The proposed study is a pilot study based on up to 80 English-speaking MGH chordoma patients diagnosed age 18 years for whom Dr. Liebsch is the physician of record. We chose this group because of Dr. Liebsch's personal knowledge of the patients and the fact that young age at diagnosis may indicate increased genetic susceptibility to chordoma. A major purpose of the pilot study is to determine the feasibility of conducting a larger study encompassing the remaining (~320) English-speaking MGH chordoma patients. The major goal of the full study would be to identify new multiplex chordoma families to participate in c
  Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  

  Current Primary Outcome: To assess genetic susceptibility to chordoma [ Time Frame: ongoing ]
  
  

  Original Primary Outcome:
  
  

  Current Secondary Outcome:
  
  

  Original Secondary Outcome:
  
  Information By: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
  

  Dates:
  Date Received: December 12, 2006
  Date Started: June 30, 2003
  Date Completion:
  Last Updated: April 21, 2017
  Last Verified: December 16, 2016