SARCOMA

Patients with heavily pretreated gastrointestinal stromal tumors responded to treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) alone and in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy), according to findings of a randomized phase II study presented at the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

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.

A novel kinase switch control inhibitor, DCC-2618, demonstrated an encouraging disease control rate (DCR) of 76% at 12 weeks in heavily pretreated patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) treated with a daily ≥100-mg dose, according to findings of a phase I first-in-human, dose-escalation trial.

Emanuela Palmerini, MD, Prometeo Laboratory: Clinical and Experimental Research Contract, Chemotherapy for Rare Musculoskeletal Tumors Department, Instituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, discusses efficacy results for denosumab (Xgeva) in patients with giant cell tumor of bone (GCTB).

According to findings from the phase I SCOUT trial, the novel pan-TRK inhibitor larotrectinib (LOXO-101)&nbsp;achieved a 93% response rate in pediatric patients with <em>TRK</em>&nbsp;fusion&ndash;positive solid tumors.

Brian Van Tine, MD,&nbsp;discusses the recent discoveries made for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma and the ongoing trials for this patient population. &nbsp;&nbsp;

CMB305, an immunotherapy regimen that generates and expands anti&ndash;NY-ESO-1 T cells, demonstrated a favorable survival rate compared with other approved agents for recurrent soft tissue sarcoma, according to results presented at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Confirmed responses were demonstrated in 3 patients with soft tissue sarcoma treated with entrectinib in the STARTRK-2 basket trial, according to the results of a case study presented at the 2017 Connective Tissue Oncology Society Annual Meeting that took place in Maui, Hawaii.

Brian Van Tine, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Washington University School of Medicine, discusses the development of olaratumab (Lartruvo) in soft tissue sarcoma.

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

CMB305, an immunotherapy regimen that generates and expands anti-NY-ESO-1 T cells, demonstrated a favorable survival rate in patients with recurrent soft tissue sarcoma, compared with other agents approved for the disease.

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.

Patients with intermediate- or high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors were less likely to experience recurrence after 5 years of treatment with imatinib, according to results from the phase II PERSIST-5 trial.

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.

A look back at all the FDA news that happened in the month of June, including in multiple myeloma, hematology, sarcoma, and lung cancer.

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to its EZH2-inhibitor tazemetostat for the treatment of adults with INI1-negative epithelioid sarcoma,&nbsp;Epizyme has announced.

Six to 9 months of treatment with neoadjuvant imatinib (Gleevec) was a promising treatment for patients with large gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to the results of a small multinational study in Asian patients.

Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, discusses efficacy and biomarker results of the phase II SARC028 study, which explored pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in advanced soft tissue and bone sarcomas, during the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified an exceptional responder to pembrolizumab &ndash; a treatment-na&iuml;ve patient with metastatic uterine leiomyosarcoma who had a complete tumor remission for more than 2 years on the PD-1 inhibitor.

Survivors of Ewing sarcoma are left with few long-term complications, according to results from a nonrandomized observational cohort study.

Researchers offer a review of the role of adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy in localized soft tissue sarcoma.&nbsp;

The investigational compound 5-imino-13-deoxydoxorubicin showed promising activity in patients with metastatic and nonresectable soft tissue sarcoma.

Shreyaskumar R. Patel, MD and Jonathan C. Trent, MD discussed the use of trabectedin and the future of the treatment paradigms in soft tissue sarcoma.

This section covers the Current Treatment Strategies section of the current Evolving Paradigms in Soft Tissue Sarcoma issue.