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In the sarcoma field, the potential benefit of immunotherapy is currently challenged not only by the heterogeneity of each patient, but also by the heterogeneity of each histologic subtype. William D. Tap, MD, discussed the role for immunotherapy in patients with soft tissue sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) during a presentation at the 2018 ESMO Sarcoma & GIST Symposium.

Following in the footsteps of pazopanib and olaratumab, many targeted therapies are being studied in patients with soft tissue sarcomas to capitalize on the benefits of targeted therapies in sarcomas. Although chemotherapy-driven approaches remain the standard for treatment of sarcomas, many sensitivities to chemotherapies have appeared in patients with sarcoma subtypes. These patients may benefit from targeted therapy approaches.

Mary C. Beckerle, PhD, has been awarded the Alfred G. Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She received her award at the NCI’s Maryland headquarters before delivering a lecture on tumor biology.

Although the addition of pazopanib (Votrient) to gemcitabine in the second-line treatment of patients with metastatic or relapsed uterine or soft tissue leiomyosarcomas demonstrated disease control in the majority of patients, statistical endpoints were not met in the phase II UNICANCER SARCOMA 11 study, according to results reported at the 2017 ESMO Congress.

Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, professor of medicine, surgery, and immunology, director, University of Pittsburgh Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory, and president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, discusses the SARC028 study, which explored the efficacy of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in advanced soft tissue and bone sarcomas.

Jonathan C. Trent, MD, PhD, recently discussed the treatment considerations he makes when treating patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Trent discussed his treatment decisions based on 2 case scenarios during a&nbsp;<em>Targeted Oncology</em>&nbsp;live case-based peer perspectives dinner.

There are more than 70 subtypes that fall under the soft tissue sarcoma (STS) umbrella, according to the World Health Organization, and only account for approximately 1% of all cancers in adult patients.&nbsp;Yet, physicians continue to try to treat all sarcomas the same, making drug development for these types of tumors quite slow and frustrating.