Soft Tissue Sarcoma Research

Two new targeted therapies have shown promise in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that have developed resistance to standard therapies.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to olaratumab (Lartruvo®) for the treatment of some patients with soft tissue sarcoma.

The FDA has approved eribulin mesylate for patients with liposarcoma whose cancers are advanced or cannot be removed by surgery and are no longer responding to anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

The FDA has approved trabectedin for patients with advanced liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma whose cancer has progressed after prior treatment.

Findings from a study in mice suggests that a new type of drug conjugate may have potential as a treatment for two cancers that are often diagnosed in children.

NCI scientists have identified a key molecular defect in a tumor in children known as gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, that may have important diagnostic implications.

Scientists have mapped the genetic changes that drive tumors in rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric soft-tissue cancer, and found that the disease is characterized by two distinct genotypes. The genetic alterations identified in this malignancy could be useful in developing targeted diagnostic tools and treatments for children with the disease.

Patients with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), a rare cancer, achieved some control of their disease using an experimental anti-cancer drug called cediranib. The results from this largest clinical trial on ASPS to date were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology

A new oral drug, regorafenib (Stivarga®), may delay the progression of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that are resistant to treatment, according to results from an international clinical trial published November 22, 2012, in The Lancet.

Patients with an AIDS-associated cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), showed improvement after receiving the combination of bevacizumab, a cancer drug that blocks the growth of new blood vessels, and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

In this clinical trial, adult patients with any form of advanced Kaposi sarcoma will be treated with liposomal doxorubicin and bevacizumab every 3 weeks for a maximum of six treatments.  Patients who respond to this therapy or have stable disease will receive bevacizumab alone every 3 weeks for a maximum of 11 treatments.

In this trial, patients with metastatic alveolar soft part sarcoma will be treated with cediranib by mouth once a day in 28-day cycles until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.