Sarcoma News

Larotrectinib appeared highly effective for adults and children with tropomyosin receptor kinase fusion cancers, according to study results presented at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

A 5-day regimen of neoadjuvant radiotherapy appeared as effective and safe as the conventional 5-week regimen for patients with soft tissue sarcoma, according to results of a prospective phase 2 study published in Clinical Cancer Research.

All-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates have declined overall among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors during the past 4 decades, according to results of a retrospective study published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy awarded a $500,000 grant to Stephen Gottschalk, MD, to develop gene therapies for pediatric sarcoma.

The FDA granted accelerated approval to tazemetostat for patients aged 16 years or older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma ineligible for complete resection.

Talimogene laherparepvec in combination with pembrolizumab demonstrated antitumor activity among patients with advanced sarcoma across a range of histologic subtypes, according to results of a single-arm phase 2 study published in JAMA Oncology.

The FDA today approved avapritinib for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors that harbor a platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha, or PDGFRA, exon 18 mutation.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, or ODAC, today voted 11-0 in favor of approval of tazemetostat for the treatment of adults with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma who are not eligible for curative surgery.

A 14-year-old patient with no significant past medical history presented with a 2-year history of a left arm mass. On exam, the patient was neurovascularly intact with full strength and intact sensation throughout her left upper extremity. There was a firm, semi-mobile mass located over the dorsal ulnar left forearm. The mass had a negative Tinel’s sign, and she had no palpable lymph nodes. MRI showed a heterogeneous mass on the dorsal ulnar left forearm, with indeterminate features, that was closely associated with the radius (Figure 1). Biopsy was consistent with low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma. CT of the chest was negative for metastatic disease. Wide resection was planned without radiotherapy secondary to the patient’s age. In anticipation of the need for soft tissue and potential bony reconstruction, a CT angiogram of the bilateral lower extremities was obtained (Figure 2). Despite the patient having palpable dorsalis pedis and posterior tibial pulses, the angiogram revealed absence of the bilateral posterior tibial arteries.

ORLANDO — Immune cells genetically edited with CRISPR/Cas9 technology and infused back into patients with multiple myeloma and sarcoma appeared to be safe and represent a feasible therapeutic approach, according to results of a prospective phase 1 study presented at ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.