Abstract

Intensive clinical research in the sarcoma field has provided insight into the histopathological diversity of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and led to the introduction of many new agents that promise to play an important role in the management of patients with STS. While an increasing body of scientific data has advanced our knowledge of this complex family of mesenchymal diseases, several controversies remain to be resolved:

Is doxorubicin-based therapy still the definitive standard first-line treatment for all patients with unresectable and/or metastatic STS of all subtypes?
Is histology-driven therapy beyond gastrointestinal stromal tumors a reality or are we pursuing an unachievable objective?
Are we making practical headway in the establishment of sarcoma reference centers?
Is it clearly established which is the best parameter to evaluate the efficacy of a new agent in STS?

Keywords:

References

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Vol. 13, No. 1s

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Published online 5 December 2016

Published in print January 2017

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Financial & competing interests disclosure

GD Demetri has received consultancy fees from Adaptimmune, Blueprint Medicines, Caris Life Sciences, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eisai, EMD-Serono, Janssen Oncology, Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Novartis and PharmaMar; has received research support from Bayer, Janssen Oncology, Novartis and Pfizer; is a Member of the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board for Blueprint Medicines; is a Consultant for the Scientific Advisory Boards for Caris Life Sciences and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals; has equity in Blueprint Medicines, Caris Life Sciences and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals. J-Y Blay has received grants and research support from Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Novartis, PharmaMar and Roche.PG Casali has received honoraria for consultancy/advisory role and/or for lectures from: Bayer, Blueprint Medicines, Eisai, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Merck Serono, Nektar Therapeutics, Novartis, Pfizer and PharmaMar. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Editorial assistance was provided by Content Ed Net (Madrid, Spain) with funding from PharmaMar, Madrid, Spain.

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Advances and controversies in the management of soft tissue sarcomas

Abstract

References