This year, the majority of the proceeds of the Walk-A-Thon will be donated to a CRMO specific research project. The Cassat Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center studies infectious and inflammatory diseases of bone, including CRMO/CNO. Of particular importance to CRMO research, and in collaboration with Dr. Zhao and Dr. Ferguson, they have been studying how bone and immune cells isolated from patients interact to cause inflammation and bone damage. They have also created innovative new approaches to directly visualize molecular changes in bone specimens, with the hope that these tools will ultimately provide both diagnostic and prognostic information for patients suspected of having CRMO. The proposed pilot project will synergistically merge their basic science expertise with outstanding investigators who perform clinical and translational research focused on patients with CRMO. They will leverage a new technique to “see” the genetic changes that are occurring in normal versus inflamed bone using biopsies from patients with CRMO. They hope that this approach will enable their interdisciplinary team to identify specific markers that will help to diagnose CRMO using either blood or bone samples. There is a desperate need for new tests that allow doctors to determine if a patient has CRMO, as opposed to another bone disease like cancer or infection and instead of just diagnosing after excluding everything else. Long term, we expect this pilot project to fuel a large NIH-funded study that will prospectively evaluate how imaging the genetic changes in bone can provide a diagnosis, prognosis, or new treatment option for patients and families suffering from CRMO.

We need to raise a minimum of $20,000 to provide the funding for this pilot project. You can help us by signing up for the Walk-A-Thon or asking friends and family to donate to this important research.