Sarcomas

Epizyme announced today that the FDA has granted orphan drug designation to its EZH2-inhibitor tazemetostat for the treatment of adults with INI1-negative epithelioid sarcoma.

Dual checkpoint inhibition with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) induced an objective response rate of 16% in patients with heavily treated, unselected, metastatic sarcoma, according to findings from the phase II ALLIANCE A091401 trial.

Neeta Somaiah, MD, assistant professor, Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase I findings of CMB305 in patients with NY-ESO-1–positive recurrent soft tissue sarcoma.

Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, professor of medicine, surgery, and immunology, director, University of Pittsburgh Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, discusses a clinical trial exploring the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in multiple subtypes of sarcoma.

Giovanni Grignani, MD, medical oncologist, Candiolo Cancer Institute IRCCS, discusses the future of treatments for patients with soft tissue sarcoma.

Charles Catton, MD, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology University of Toronto, discusses quality assurance with radiation therapy for patients with sarcoma.

Adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with improved survival for patients with non-retroperitoneal abdominal soft tissue sarcomas (NRA-STS), but the addition of chemotherapy did not confer a similar survival benefit.

Researchers at Istanbul University Institute of Oncology have concluded that patients with high-risk extremity soft tissue sarcoma have similar 3-year outcomes whether they are assigned to neoadjuvant sequential chemoradiotherapy or radiation alone.

Bernd Kasper, MD, PhD, professor, Universitätsmedizin Mannheim, Mannheim, discusses future treatment approaches in the field of sarcoma and the potential role of imatinib (Gleevac).

Chemotherapy with doxorubicin and ifosfamide improved progression-free survival and tumor response compared with doxorubicin alone in soft tissue sarcoma, but the combination may be best suited for young, fit patients.

Chinese researchers have concluded that the oral VEGFR2 inhibitor apatinib demonstrated efficacy with tolerable toxicity in a small study of patients with stage IV sarcoma, according to results published in Oncotarget.

Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH, surgical oncologist, University of Chicago Cancer Center, discusses the current surgical setting of sarcoma.

Symantha Melemed, global product team lead, Oncology Business Unit, Eli Lilly & Company, discusses the impact of the FDA approval of olaratumab (Lartruvo) in patients with soft tissue sarcoma

Suzanne George, MD, assistant professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, clinical director, Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a study exploring the efficacy of a PD-1 inhibitor in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center believe that including clinical genomic profiling into sarcoma management could result in more precise diagnosis and subclassification of the disease.

Suzanne George, MD, discusses an exceptional responder to pembrolizumab in leiomyosarcoma and the significance of these findings for further immunotherapy advances in the field.

Breelyn Wilky, MD, an associate professor of Medicine, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Care, University of Miami Health System, discusses the design of a phase II trial investigating concurrent axitinib (Inlyta) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma and other soft tissue sarcomas.

Researchers concluded that survivors of Ewing sarcoma are largely free of physical limitations and there is little apparent difference between survivors and healthy people in terms of mental health.

Nancy Gordon, MD, a pediatric oncologist and research assistant at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses toxicities associated with immunotherapy agents for the treatment of patients with osteosarcoma.

Kumar Sankhala, MD, medical director of Clinical Research, Sarcoma Oncology Center, discusses the significance of the combination of the endoglin antibody TRC105 plus pazopanib (Votrient) in patients with angiosarcoma.

Seth M. Pollack, assistant professor, Division of Oncology, University of Washington, and attending physician, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the future treatment paradigm of soft tissue sarcoma.

Douglas Levine, MD, discusses a recent study in uterine carcinosarcoma and early steps toward developing therapeutic regimens.

John E. Mullinax, MD, discusses isolated limb infusion as a limb salvage strategy for locally advanced extremity sarcoma.

Breelyn Wilky, MD, an associate professor of Medicine, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Care, University of Miami Health System, discusses the status of a phase II trial investigating concurrent axitinib (Inlyta) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma and other soft tissue sarcomas.

Jean-Yves Blay, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France, and the scientific director of the Canceropole Lyon Rhône Alpes, discusses the treatment landscape of sarcoma.

Bernd Kasper, MD, PhD, professor, Universitätsmedizin Mannheim, Mannheim, discusses imatinib (Gleevac) versus sorafenib (Nexavar) as treatments for patients with sarcoma.

Markus Albertsmeier, MD, surgeon, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, discusses radiotherapy improving the local control for patients with sarcoma.

Nancy B. Gordon, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Center, discusses next steps for immunotherapy research in the field of osteosarcoma.

Giovanni Grignani, MD, medical oncologist, Candiolo Cancer Institute IRCCS, discusses the safety profile of trabectedin (Yondelis) in the treatment of sarcoma.

Nancy Gordon, MD, a pediatric oncologist and research assistant at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses current immunotherapy research being conducted in the field of osteosarcoma.