Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) Inhibition to Improve Losartan-Sunitinib Immunotherapy in Metastatic Osteosarcoma

Dr. Dan Regan discusses his OutSmarting Osteosarcoma funded work on Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) inhibition to improve losartan-sunitinib immunotherapy in metastatic osteosarcoma.  - Dr. Dan Regan is an Assistant Professor at the  Flint Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University and he is one of our OutSmarting Osteosarcoma 2022 grant recipients.  Dr. Regan received his DVM degree from the University of Georgia and subsequently completed his residency training in veterinary anatomic pathology and PhD in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology (MIP) at Colorado State University. In 2018 he joined the Flint Animal Cancer Center and MIP in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. The focus of Dr. Regan’s laboratory is to increase our understanding of the interplay between the immune system and (non-immune) tumor stroma, and how these compartments of the tumor microenvironment promote metastasis as well as respond to and mediate extrinsic mechanisms of resistance to anti-cancer therapy. To investigate this area of cancer biology, his laboratory utilizes a combination of in vitro 3-dimensional tumor co-culture models and animal models, focusing on breast and bone cancer (osteosarcoma). Dr. Regan also has a strong interest in comparative oncology and leveraging naturally occurring cancers in dogs as both a surrogate and intermediary model to evaluate and validate his laboratory’s investigations into the tumor microenvironment. In collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Steve Dow, his lab conducted immunotherapy clinical studies in dogs with spontaneous osteosarcoma and these study results have led to a phase I clinical trial in children with osteosarcoma. His lab’s continued long-term research goal is to fully elucidate the mechanisms by which tumors prime non-malignant host stromal cells of distant organs to promote their metastasis and chemo-resistance, in order to identify novel targets for host-directed stromal therapies which “poison the soil” for effective combination with conventional tumor cell targeted drugs. --- What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: ✨ End-of-Life MISSIONS ✨ Gamer Agents ✨ Agent Writers ✨ Prayer Agents ✨ Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent Support ✨ Ambassador Agents - Peer Support ✨ Warrior Mail ✨ Young Adult Survivorship Support Group ✨  EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: ✨ OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma ✨ MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours ✨ RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference ✨ Funding $100,000 annually for OS research ✨ MIB Testing & Research Directory ✨ The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. 🔗 https://www.mibagents.org  Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://www.mibagents.org/?form=donate ✨✨SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel ✨✨