Optimal clinical management and the molecular biology of angiosarcomas
Journal
Cancers
Journal Volume
12
Journal Issue
11
Pages
1-22
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Abstract
Angiosarcomas comprise less than 3% of all soft tissue sarcomas but have a poor prognosis. Most angiosarcomas occur without obvious risk factors but secondary angiosarcoma could arise after radiotherapy or chronic lymphedema. Surgery remains the standard treatment for localized angiosarcoma but neoadjuvant systemic treatment may improve the curability. For advanced angiosarcoma, anthracyclines and taxanes are the main chemotherapy options. Anti-angiogenic agents have a substantial role but the failure of a randomized phase 3 trial of pazopanib with or without an anti-endoglin antibody brings a challenge to future trials in angiosarcomas. Immune checkpoint inhibitors as single agents or in combination with oncolytic virus may play an important role but the optimal duration remains to be investigated. We also report the current understanding of the molecular pathways involved in angiosarcoma pathogenesis including MYC amplification, activation of angiogenic pathways and different molecular alterations that are associated with angiosarcomas of different aetiology. The success of the patient-partnered Angiosarcoma Project (ASCProject) has provided not only detailed insights into the molecular features of angiosarcomas of different origins but also offers a template for future fruitful collaborations between patients, physicians, and researchers. Lastly, we provide our perspective of future developments in optimizing the clinical management of angiosarcomas. ? 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Angiogenesis; Angiosarcoma; Chemotherapy; Immunotherapy; Molecular biology; Radiation-associated sarcoma; Soft tissue sarcomas
SDGs
Other Subjects
anthracycline derivative; atezolizumab; avelumab; axitinib; bevacizumab; brivanib; cabozantinib; cobimetinib; cyclophosphamide; docetaxel; doxorubicin; durvalumab; encequidar; eribulin; gemcitabine; ipilimumab; Myc protein; nivolumab; onfekafusp alfa; paclitaxel; pazopanib; pembrolizumab; propranolol; protein p53; razoxane; ribociclib; sorafenib; sunitinib; talimogene laherparepvec; taxane derivative; ticilimumab; vasculotropin receptor; advanced cancer; angiosarcoma; cancer combination chemotherapy; cancer immunotherapy; cancer localization; cancer radiotherapy; cancer surgery; carcinogenesis; drug efficacy; gene amplification; gene mutation; hemangioendothelioma; human; Kaposi sarcoma; molecular biology; monotherapy; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; nonhuman; oncolytic virotherapy; overall survival; progression free survival; proto oncogene; radiation exposure; Review; signal transduction; soft tissue sarcoma; tumor suppressor gene
Publisher
MDPI AG
Type
review