Treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma: conventional agents and promising new drugs.
Effective treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas remains challenging, despite more than 30 years of clinical trials with conventional chemotherapy. Although some agents display modest efficacy against soft tissue sarcomas, modifications in the doses and combinations of therapies have not consistently led to significant improvements in response rates or concomitant increase in overall survival. Novel therapies designed to inhibit defined molecular alterations, as exemplified by the use of imatinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumors, have revolutionized the approach to the treatment of sarcomas. As more underlying genetic mechanisms are uncovered, new agents designed to target these lesions will lead to more specific, less toxic, and more effective therapies.
Wagner
Andrew
A
Harvard Medical School, Department of Medical Oncology and Ludwig Center for Cancer Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. awagner@partners.org
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents