Pan-European Sarcoma Trials: Moving Forward in a Climate of Increasing Economic and Regulatory Pressure

Advances in sarcoma treatment are largely based on investigator-initiated, multicentric and interdisciplinary clinical trials. The EU's Good Clinical Practice Directive 2001/20/EC, effective since 2004, was meant to harmonize the conditions for clinical trials across Europe, but, instead, the challenge of initiating and running multinational, noncommercial clinical trials has become greater than ever. Institutions participating in existing noncommercial Pan-European studies are struggling to cope with increased administrative and financial burdens, and few new studies are initiated any more. The aim of a conference entitled “Pan-European Sarcoma Trials: Moving Forward in a Climate of Increasing Economic and Regulatory Pressure,” held in Stuttgart, Germany, 30 November–2 December 2006 as part of the European Science Foundation's ECT-program, was not only to provide an overview of currently active and planned multinational studies on osteo-, Ewing's, and soft tissue sarcoma, but also to draw on areas of synergy between various established sarcoma groups in Europe to define plausible survival strategies for collaborative, interdisciplinary, patient-oriented research

Sclerosing Epithelioid Fibrosarcoma of the Bone: A Case Report of High Resistance to Chemotherapy and a Survey of the Literature

Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF) is a rare soft tissue sarcoma mostly occurring in extraosseous sites. SEF represents a clinically challenging entity especially because no standardized treatment regimens are available. Intraosseous localization is an additional challenge with respect to the therapeutical approach. We report on a 16-year-old patient with SEF of the right proximal tibia. The patient underwent standardized neoadjuvant chemotherapy analogous to the EURAMOS-1 protocol for the treatment of osteosarcoma followed by tumor resection and endoprosthetic reconstruction. Histopathological analysis of the resected tumor showed >90% vital tumor cells suggesting no response to chemotherapy. Therefore, therapy was reassigned to the CWS 2002 High-Risk protocol for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma. To date (22 months after diagnosis), there is no evidence of relapse or metastasis. Our data suggest that SEF may be resistant to a chemotherapy regimen containing Cisplatin, Doxorubicin, and Methotrexate, which should be considered in planning treatment for patients with SEF

Non-randomized therapy trial to determine the safety and efficacy of heavy ion radiotherapy in patients with non-resectable osteosarcoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. For effective treatment, local control of the tumor is absolutely critical, because the chances of long term survival are <10% and might effectively approach zero if a complete surgical resection of the tumor is not possible. Up to date there is no curative treatment protocol for patients with non-resectable osteosarcomas, who are excluded from current osteosarcoma trials, e.g. <it>EURAMOS1</it>. Local photon radiotherapy has previously been used in small series and in an uncontrolled, highly individualized fashion, which, however, documented that high dose radiotherapy can, in principle, be used to achieve local control. Generally the radiation dose that is necessary for a curative approach can hardly be achieved with conventional photon radiotherapy in patients with non-resectable tumors that are usually located near radiosensitive critical organs such as the brain, the spine or the pelvis. In these cases particle Radiotherapy (proton therapy (PT)/heavy ion therapy (HIT) may offer a promising new alternative. Moreover, compared with photons, heavy ion beams provide a higher physical selectivity because of their finite depth coverage in tissue. They achieve a higher relative biological effectiveness. Phase I/II dose escalation studies of HIT in adults with non-resectable bone and soft tissue sarcomas have already shown favorable results.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This is a monocenter, single-arm study for patients ≥ 6 years of age with non-resectable osteosarcoma. Desired target dose is 60-66 Cobalt Gray Equivalent (Gy E) with 45 Gy PT (proton therapy) and a carbon ion boost of 15-21 GyE. Weekly fractionation of 5-6 × 3 Gy E is used. PT/HIT will be administered exclusively at the Ion Radiotherapy Center in Heidelberg. Furthermore, FDG-PET imaging characteristics of non-resectable osteosarcoma before and after PT/HIT will be investigated prospectively. Systemic disease before and after PT/HIT is targeted by standard chemotherapy protocols and is not part of this trial.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The primary objectives of this trial are the determination of feasibility and toxicity of HIT. Secondary objectives are tumor response, disease free survival and overall survival. The aim is to improve outcome for patients with non-resectable osteosarcoma.</p> <p>Trail Registration</p> <p>Registration number (ClinicalTrials.gov): NCT01005043</p

TThe ENCCA-WP7/EuroSarc/EEC/PROVABES/EURAMOS 3rd European Bone Sarcoma Networking Meeting/Joint Workshop of EU Bone Sarcoma Translational Research Networks; Vienna, Austria, September 24–25, 2015. Workshop Report

This report summarizes the results of the 3rd Joint ENCCA-WP7, EuroSarc, EEC, PROVABES, and EURAMOS European Bone Sarcoma Network Meeting, which was held at the Children's Cancer Research Institute in Vienna, Austria on September 24-25, 2015. The joint bone sarcoma network meetings bring together European bone sarcoma researchers to present and discuss current knowledge on bone sarcoma biology, genetics, immunology, as well as results from preclinical investigations and clinical trials, to generate novel hypotheses for collaborative biological and clinical investigations. The ultimate goal is to further improve therapy and outcome in patients with bone sarcomas

Association of candidate pharmacogenetic markers with platinum-induced ototoxicity: PanCareLIFE dataset

Genetic association studies suggest a genetic predisposition for cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Among other candidate genes, thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) is considered a critical gene for susceptibility to cisplatin-induced hearing loss in a pharmacogenetic guideline. The PanCareLIFE cross-sectional cohort study evaluated the genetic associations in a large pan-European population and assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the genetic markers. 1,112 pediatric cancer survivors who had provided biomaterial for genotyping were screened for participation in the pharmacogenetic association study. 900 participants qualified for inclusion. Based on the assessment of original audiograms, patients were assigned to three phenotype categories: no, minor, and clinically relevant hearing loss. Fourteen variants in eleven candidate genes (ABCC3, OTOS, TPMT, SLC22A2, NFE2L2, SLC16A5, LRP2, GSTP1, SOD2, WFS1, and ACYP2) were genotyped. The genotype and phenotype data represent a resource for conducting meta-analyses to derive a more precise pooled estimate of the effects of genes on the risk of hearing loss due to platinum treatment

Advances in the management of osteosarcoma [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Osteosarcoma, a bone cancer most commonly seen in adolescents and young adults, is usually a high-grade malignancy characterized by a very high risk for the development of pulmonary metastases. High-grade osteosarcomas are usually treated by preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy and surgery, with a very limited number of active agents available. Rarer lower-grade variants such as parosteal and periosteal osteosarcoma or low-grade central osteosarcoma are treated by surgery only. Imaging to search for possible metastases focuses on the lung. Computed tomography is the most sensitive method but cannot reliably distinguish small metastases from benign lesions. Advances of local imaging and surgical reconstruction now allow the use of limb-salvage in an ever-increasing proportion of patients. While still troubled by complications, non-invasive endoprosthesis-lengthening mechanisms have led to an increased uptake of limb-salvage, even for young, skeletally immature patients. Radiotherapy is employed when osteosarcomas cannot be removed with clear margins, but very high doses are required, and both proton and carbon-ion radiotherapy are under investigation. Unfortunately, the past 30 years have witnessed few, if any, survival improvements. Novel agents have not led to universally accepted changes of treatment standards. In patients with operable high-grade osteosarcomas, the extent of histological response to preoperative chemotherapy is a significant predictive factor for both local and systemic control. Attempts to improve prognosis by adapting postoperative treatment to response, recently tested in a randomized, prospective setting by the European and American Osteosarcoma Study Group, have not been proven to be beneficial. Many agree that only increased knowledge about osteosarcoma biology will lead to novel, effective treatment approaches and will be able to move the field forward