Sinonasal and Skull Base Tumor Program

National Institute On Deafness And Other Communication Disorders

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The goals of the Sinonasal and Skull Base Tumor Program are to 1) understand the impact that standard surgical, radiation, and chemotherapy treatments have on the sense of smell, 2) identify critical genes that drive tumor development, and determine their mechanism of action, and 3) assess the potential of these genes as therapeutic targets. We are particularly interested in olfactory neuroblastoma which is believed to arise from the olfactory epithelium. Annual Olfactory Neuroblastoma Patient Education Meeting Our third meeting this year was conducted hybrid and had 85 participants. The meeting was an opportunity for patients and families to meet with physicians and scientists to discuss the state of affairs for olfactory neuroblastoma. We opened a natural history study for adult and pediatric olfactory neuroblastoma and have started enrolling patients (NCT04755205). The goal of this study is to characterize the natural history of ONB including clinical presentation, response to current treatment methods, and patterns of disease recurrence and progression. This also includes evaluation of changes in sense of smell and taste. We also opened an interventional immunotherapy olfactory neuroblastoma clinical trial (NCT05012098) and have begun enrollment. We published a study of combinatorial NK cell based immunotherapy for chordoma, a destructive tumor of the skull base.