Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Osteosarcoma-specific glycoforms of CD24

Award Number: R03CA313246
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/02/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Osteosarcoma-specific glycoforms of CD24 - Project Summary TThe outlook for osteosarcoma patients with recurrent and pulmonary metastatic disease remains dismal despite aggressive therapeutic interventions. Therefore, preventing or reversing metastatic osteosarcoma is essential to improving long-term survival of 40% of osteosarcoma patients who relapse. CD24 has emerged as a multifaceted regulator of tumorigenesis across a broad range of cancer types. As a membrane anchored glycoprotein, CD24 functions as a suppressor of innate immune responses (“don’t-eat-me” signal) enabling osteosarcoma cells to evade phagocytosis in the macrophage-rich microenvironment of the lung. We have shown that treatment with a CD24 antibody is very effective in preventing osteosarcoma metastasis by enabling phagocytosis of infiltrating cancer cells by alveolar macrophages in preclinical mouse models. Disrupting this immunosuppressive mechanism during the earliest stages of metastasis offers a critical opportunity to halt disease progression at the time of primary disease diagnosis. Osteosarcoma presents an ideal scenario for implementing such CD24-targeted therapies, as its metastatic progression relies heavily on suppression of phagocytosis in the lung microenvironment. A major challenge in achieving effective clinical outcomes, however, is that current antibodies cannot distinguish between CD24 expressed on tumor and normal cells—primarily B and NK cells. This lack of specificity can lead to “on-target/off-tumor” effects and reduce antibody availability to target tumor-associated CD24. One potential solution lies in the post-translational glycosylation of CD24, which generates distinct, cell-specific glycoforms of the protein that can be selectively targeted on osteosarcoma cells. To this end, this proposal is aimed at characterizing osteosarcoma-specific CD24 glycosylation profiles to facilitate development of specific therapeutic antibodies. Our aims are driven by the central hypothesis that unique CD24 glycoforms are expressed by osteosarcoma cells and play a pivotal role in enabling metastatic growth by suppressing phagocytosis in the lung microenvironment. We aim to utilize this exploratory/developmental R03 funding mechanism to establish the foundation of this project by (1) profiling CD24 glycosylation patterns in osteosarcoma cells to identify distinct epitopes that can be targeted by therapeutic antibody and (2) defining the role of these specific glycosylation patterns in modulating phagocytic activity and metastasis. The highly complex process of osteosarcoma metastasis (which involves interactions with alveolar macrophages, epithelial lining, and microvasculature to promote adhesion, survival, and immune evasion) can only be simulated in vivo, and will, therefore, necessitate the use of a mouse model to achieve our aims. Our short-term goal is to comprehensively characterize CD24 glycoforms in osteosarcoma and affirm their role in metastatic progression, with the long-term objective of developing a highly specific antibody therapy to prevent progression of pulmonary metastases. These developments will have a major impact on improving the survival of pediatric osteosarcoma patients.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $164,000 )
2026	2026	THE UNIVERISTY OF TEXAS M.D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER	1515 HOLCOMBE BLVD	HOUSTON	TX	77030	HARRIS	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	1	7/6/2026	NEW	$164,000
														Subtotal = $164,000

Grand Total All Awards = $164,000

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Osteosarcoma-specific glycoforms of CD24

Award Number: R03CA313246

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/02/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer