IntroductionSoft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare mesenchymal malignancies with limited treatment options in advanced stages. Anthracycline-based chemotherapy remains the standard of care but yields modest outcomes with significant toxicity, underscoring the need for more effective strategies.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 56 patients with advanced STS who received PD-1 inhibitor-based therapy at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between January 2021 and January 2026. Treatment regimens included immunotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy or targeted therapy. The observed primary endpoints were median progression-free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS). Survival outcomes were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier analysis; factors associated with prognosis were identified by a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Outcomes were compared with a historical cohort of 53 patients treated with chemotherapy alone.ResultsA total of 56 patients were included, and the median follow-up time in the immunotherapy cohort was 19.2 months (range, 1.32–52.8 months). Patients with UPS had a longer median PFS than those with non-UPS histology (P = 0.045). Patients receiving immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy had longer median PFS (P = 0.047) and median OS (P = 0.046) compared with those receiving immunotherapy without chemotherapy. Multivariable Cox regression identified UPS histology (P = 0.023) and immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy (P = 0.047) as factors associated with PFS in advanced STS. Compared with 53 patients who received chemotherapy alone, the immunotherapy-based comprehensive treatment group had longer median PFS in the overall population (P = 0.023); the pure chemoimmunotherapy group (n = 22) also showed longer PFS (P = 0.014). This association was also observed in the UPS subgroup (P = 0.006). Treatment-related adverse events were predominantly grade 1–2; no grade 4–5 severe adverse events or treatment-related deaths occurred.DiscussionImmunotherapy-based regimens, particularly chemoimmunotherapy, showed a suggested PFS benefit over conventional chemotherapy in advanced STS, with UPS showing a suggested association with disease control. The safety profile was acceptable. Nevertheless, the limitations inherent to the retrospective design, historical controls, modest sample size, and immature overall survival data warrant cautious interpretation.

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors have improved the objective response rate and survival of melanoma patients. However, there are still many melanoma patients suffering from disease progression due to primary or secondary immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance, as is observed in the failure of anti-PD1/PD-L1 therapy. It is urgent to determine the function of PD-1/PD-L1 expression in melanoma and its associated pathways to enhance the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapies. Methods A cohort of 133 patients with histologically confirmed melanoma from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital were included in this study. We performed immunohistochemical staining to detect the expression of MIIP, HDAC6 and PD-L1. Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test were used for survival analyze. As for vitro, Western blot was used to verify the signaling pathway that MIIP regulates PD-L1 expression. Results Our present data demonstrate MIIP expression was decreased in melanoma and that the negative expression of MIIP was correlated with worse overall survival. We also found the positive expression of HDAC6, a molecule that is downstream of MIIP, had a positive trend with decreased overall survival, because the p value was not statistically significant. At the same time, the positive expression of PD-L1, a crucial costimulatory molecule, was associated with decreased overall survival. Furthermore, there was a positive association between HDAC6 and PD-L1 protein expression (p<0.01). In vitro experiment, we found that increasing MIIP led to decreased HDAC6, pSTAT3, and PD-L1 expression. Knocking down MIIP led to increased HDAC6, pSTAT3, and PD-L1 expression. Combining the published results, showing that HDAC6 can regulate PD-L1 expression through STAT3, our present data suggest that MIIP inhibits the expression of PD-L1 by downregulating HDAC6 in melanoma. Most importantly, methods for targeting MIIP-HDAC6-PD-L1 pathways, such as treatment with HDAC6 inhibitors, might indicate a new therapeutic approach for enhancing immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies in melanoma. Conclusions Our findings highlight the immunomodulatory effects of MIIP in the inhibition of PD-L1 expression by downregulating HDAC6 in melanoma. Our data provide a sensible framework to consider the targeting of the MIIP-HDAC6-PD-L1 pathway.

Immunotherapy is an essential therapy for individuals with advanced melanoma. However, not all patients respond to such treatment due to individual differences. We conducted a multidimensional analysis using transcriptome data from our center, as well as publicly available databases. We found that effective nivolumab treatment led to an upregulation of C2 levels, and higher levels following treatment are indicative of a good outcome. Through bioinformatics analyses and immunofluorescence, we identified a correlation between C2 and M1 macrophages. To further investigate the role of C2 in melanoma, we constructed subcutaneous tumorigenic models in C57BL/6 mice. The tumors in the C2 overexpression group exhibited significantly smaller sizes. Flow cytometric analysis of the mouse tumors demonstrated enhanced recruitment of macrophages, particularly of the M1 subtype, in the overexpression group. Moreover, single-cell RNA sequencing analysis revealed that C2-positive tumor cells exhibited enhanced communication with immune cells. We co-cultured tumor cell supernatants with macrophages in vitro and observed the induction of M1 subtype polarization. In addition, we discovered a close correlation between C2 and tertiary lymphoid structures. C2 has been demonstrated to exert a protective effect, mediated by its ability to modulate the tumor microenvironment. C2 serves as a prognostic marker for melanoma and can be employed to monitor the efficacy of immunotherapy.

BackgroundSarcoma is a highly heterogeneous malignancy with a poor prognosis. Although chemotherapy and targeted therapy have improved the prognosis to some extent, the efficacy remains unsatisfactory in some patients. The efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in sarcoma need further evaluation.MethodsWe conducted a two-center study of sarcoma patients receiving PD-1 immunotherapy at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital and Henan Provincial Cancer Hospital. The treatment regimens included PD-1 inhibitor monotherapy and combination therapy based on PD-1 inhibitors. The observed primary endpoints were median progression-free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS). Survival curves were compared using the Kaplan−Meier method.ResultsA total of 43 patients were included from the two centers. The median follow-up time for all patients was 13 months (range, 1-48 months). In the group of 37 patients with advanced or unresectable sarcoma, the mPFS was 6 months (95%CI: 5-12 months), and the mOS was 16 months (95%CI: 10-28 months). The ORR was 10.8% (4/37), and the DCR was 18.9% (7/37). Subgroup analysis showed no significant differences in mPFS (p=0.11) and mOS (p=0.88) between patients with PD-L1 negative/positive expression. There were also no significant differences in mPFS (p=0.13) or mOS (p=0.72) between PD-1 inhibitor monotherapy and combination therapy. Additionally, there were no significant differences in mPFS (p=0.52) or mOS (p=0.49) between osteogenic sarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma. Furthermore, the results showed no significant differences in mPFS (p=0.66) or mOS (p=0.96) between PD-1 inhibitors combined with targeted therapy and PD-1 inhibitors combined with AI chemotherapy. Among the 6 patients receiving adjuvant therapy after surgery, the mPFS was 15 months (95%CI: 6-NA months), and the mOS was not reached. In terms of safety, most adverse events were mild (grade 1-2) and manageable. The most severe grade 4 adverse events were bone marrow suppression, which occurred in 4 patients but resolved after treatment. There was also one case of a grade 4 adverse event related to hypertension.ConclusionImmunotherapy is an effective treatment modality for sarcoma with manageable safety. Further inclusion of more patients or prospective clinical trials is needed to validate these findings.

At the recent 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the latest progress was presented in clinical trials of various therapeutic modalities for adult soft tissue sarcoma (STS), including chemotherapy, targeted ther-apy, anti-immune checkpoint immunotherapy, and multiple combination treatments (Table 1). Generally, the development of clinical treatments for STS is relatively slow, owing to the complex pathological subtypes of sarcoma and their heter-ogeneous biological behaviors. Here, we briefly summarize updates from this year's ASCO meeting and discuss the future therapeutic perspectives for unspecific STS.

Purpose Our previously study showed that recombinant human endostatin (Endostar) combined with chemotherapy had significant activity to increase the mPFS in patients with advanced sarcomas with tolerable side effects. However, the small cohort size and short follow-up time made it difficult to screen sensitive sarcoma subtypes and determine whether there is an overall survival benefit. With the largest sarcoma cohort to our knowledge, we try to confirm the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy combined with Endostar in stage IV sarcomas, with the specific purpose of finding out the sensitive sarcoma types for this combined treatment. Methods After the exclusion of ineligible patients, 156 patients with stage IV bone and soft tissue sarcomas were included in this study according to the inclusion criteria. Results By the end of follow-up, the ORR was 10.7% (9/84) vs 1.4% (1/72) (p=0.041), the DCR was 26.2% (22/84) vs 5.6% (4/72) (p=0.001) in the combined group and chemotherapy group, respectively. The mPFS of combined group was significantly longer than the chemotherapy group (10.42 vs 6.87 months, p=0.003). The mOS were 26.84 months and 23.56 months, without significant difference (p= 0.481). In osteogenic sarcoma, there was no statistically significant difference in the mPFS between the two groups (p=0.59), while in the soft tissue sarcoma, the mPFS in the combined group was significantly higher than that of the chemotherapy group (11.27 vs 8.05 months, p=0.004). Specifically, undifferentiated polymorphic sarcoma (UPS) was the possible sarcoma subtypes that benefited from the combined therapy. For the 38 UPS patients (28 patients in the combined group and 10 patients in the chemotherapy group), the mPFS in the combined group was up to 14.88 months, while it was only 7.1 months in the chemotherapy group, with a significant difference (p=0.006). The most common adverse events in the combined group were myelosuppression, gastrointestinal reactions and abnormal liver function, without significant difference in two groups. Conclusion Chemotherapy plus Endostar could prolong mPFS and improve ORR and DCR in patients with stage IV soft tissue sarcoma, suggesting that the combined therapy could improve the patient prognosis in soft tissue sarcomas, especially the UPS patients.

Background:Visceral sarcomas are a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma. This study aimed to evaluate the survival and prognostic factors and effective treatments for visceral sarcomas.Methods:All patients with visceral sarcoma referred to our center between January 2010 and December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test were used for survival analysis.Results:A total of 53 patients with visceral sarcoma were analyzed in this study with the median age at diagnosis of 57 (range, 24-77) years. Among them, 37 (69.8%) and 16 (30.2%) patients had localized and metastatic diseases at the initial presentation, respectively, and 44 patients underwent surgical resection. The median follow-up, event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 63.0 (range, 2-130), 42.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.879-73.121) and 45.0 months (95% CI 9.938-80.062), respectively. The 5-year EFS and OS rates were 44% and 46%, respectively. Univariate analysis of prognostic indicators illustrated that metastasis at presentation, surgery, surgical margin and the types of surgery were significantly associated with OS and EFS. In this study, combined chemotherapy or radiotherapy had no effects on EFS and OS.Conclusion:Primary visceral sarcoma is an uncommon and aggressive malignant tumor with a higher rate of local recurrence. In the largest cohort of visceral sarcomas in China to date, we identified metastases at presentation, surgery, surgical margin, and the types of surgery as independent predictors of survival. The combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy did not affect survival.

Objective:This study aims to reveal the special immune infiltrating environment and possible immune escape mechanism of giant cell tumor of bone through single-cell sequencing data.Methods:The fresh samples obtained from 4 patients with primary giant cell tumor of bone from January 2018 to December 2021 were collected, and single-cell transcriptome sequencing was performed on the 10X platform to explore the characteristics and immune environment of giant cell tumor of bone by using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding ( t-SNE). The main cell types and signal pathways of immune cell regulation and function in giant cell tumor of bone were observed by cell communication analysis. Results:Cell clustering, the definition of basic cell types, the classification of immune cells, and the mutual regulatory relationship between cell types were analyzed for 35 643 single-cell data from 4 giant cell tumor samples of bone. It was found that giant cell tumor of bone was composed of 9 basic cell types, in which the immune cells were mainly CD8 + T cells (51%) and the non-immune cells were mainly fibroblast like spindle stromal cells (74%). The immune infiltration of giant cell tumor of bone is dominated by cytotoxic CD8 + T cells and lacks exhausted CD8 + T cells. CD4 + T cells are characterized by high expression of immune checkpoint genes CTLA4 and TIGIT. In giant cell tumor of bone, immune cells mainly act on multinucleated osteoclast like giant cells through PARs and CCL signaling pathways, but not stromal cells. Conclusion:This study defined the main cell types of giant cell tumor of bone through single cell sequencing data, and further revealed the composition characteristics of its immune infiltration, and found that the target of its immune cells was mainly multinuclear osteoclast like giant cells, which provided effective information for further understanding the occurrence and development of giant cell tumor of bone.

Acral melanoma is a dismal subtype of melanoma occurring in glabrous acral skin, and has a higher incidence in East Asians. We perform single-cell RNA sequencing for 63,394 cells obtained from 5 acral and 3 cutaneous melanoma samples to investigate tumor heterogeneity and immune environment. We define 5 orthogonal functional cell clusters that are involved in TGF-beta signaling, Type I interferon, Wnt signaling, Cell cycle, and Cholesterol efflux signaling. Signatures of enriched TGF-beta, Type I interferon, and cholesterol efflux signaling are significantly associated with good prognosis of melanoma. Compared with cutaneous melanoma, acral melanoma samples have significantly severe immunosuppressive state including depletion of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, enrichment of Treg cells, and exhausted CD8+ T cells. PD1 and TIM-3 have higher expression in the exhaustive CD8+ T cells of acral melanoma. Key findings are verified in two independent validation sets. This study contributes to our better understanding of acral melanoma.

OBJECTIVE:Sarcomas are a group of rare malignancies with various subtypes. Patients with metastatic sarcoma who have failed traditional treatments can possibly achieve better prognoses from using novel therapies, including anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1)-based therapies.METHODS:We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 24 metastatic sarcoma patients from June 15, 2016 to December 30, 2019. These patients mainly received angiogenesis inhibitors combined with anti-PD-1 therapy after they became resistant to traditional treatments. Furthermore, 8 patients underwent panel DNA and whole transcript sequencing.RESULTS:Six patients received 2 cycles of anti-PD-1 therapy and were included in the safety evaluation only group. The median follow-up time was 5.77 months. The median progression-free survival was 7.59 months, the overall response rate was 16.7% and the disease control rate was 55.6%. Based on whole exome and transcript sequencing data, there was no association between TMB, TNB, MSI, HLA-LOH, and PD-L1 expressions and sarcoma types with clinical responses. Immunotherapy efficacy and bioinformatics analyses indicated higher intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) in progressive disease (PD) patients and lower ITH in partial response (PR) and stable disease patients. A higher percentage of immune cell infiltration, especially monocytes, was observed in PR patients. Active stromal gene expression was increased in PD patients but decreased in PR patients. Enrichment analysis revealed that an increased TGF-β signaling pathway was reversely correlated with anti-PD-1 efficacy, while a decreased inflammatory response signaling pathway was positively correlated with anti-PD-1 efficacy.CONCLUSIONS:Our study showed PD-1 inhibitors combined with anti-angiogenesis agents were effective and well-tolerated. ITH, monocyte ratio, stroma subtypes, and the status of immune-associated signaling pathways may be related with anti-PD-1 based therapy.

Background and purpose: Anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1) adjuvant therapy and targeted therapy have resulted in longer recurrence-free survival (RFS) for malignant melanoma patients in clinical trials. However, the efficacy of adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy in Chinese melanoma patients has not been previously reported. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively analyze the RFS in Chinese resected stage Ⅲ malignant melanoma patients treated with adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy and to preliminarily compare it with BRAFV600 inhibitor vemurafenib. Methods: This study retrospectively collected the information of 120 patients with resected stage Ⅲ malignant melanoma from three major cancer centers in China from August 30, 2018 to August 30, 2020. These patients received adjuvant pembrolizumab/toripalimab or vemurafenib. RFS rates were assessed by Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests were used to examined differences. Results: Among the 90 patients with stage Ⅲ malignant melanoma receiving adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy, the median-RFS (mRFS) was 16 months (95% CI: 14-18 months); the 12-month RFS rate was 69.5% (95% CI: 64.6%-74.4%) and the 24-month RFS rate was 45.8% (95% CI: 40.5%-51.1%). The mRFS for 30 patients who received vemurafenib was 18 months (95% CI: 10-21 months), the 12-month RFS rate was 62.8% (95% CI: 54.0%-71.6%), and the 24-month RFS rate was 32.9% (95% CI: 27.1%-44.7%). In the stratified analysis, firstly, there was no difference in RFS between anti-PD-1 therapy group and vemurafenib group. Secondly, the BRAFV600E mutation status may did not affect the RFS of anti-PD-1 therapy. In addition, in this study, for the patients with BRAFV600E mutation, the RFS showed no difference between these patients received anti-PD-1 therapy or vemurafenib. Finally, although the RFS was better in patients with cutaneous melanoma than in patients with acral and worst in patients of unknown origin, the data for adjuvant therapy in China were still poor. Conclusion: These are the real-world data from adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with resected stage Ⅲ cutaneous and acral melanoma patients in China. In our study, adjuvant anti-PD-1 therapy is indistinguishable from vemurafenib indicates more combination therapies are needed to improve outcome in China.

Objective: To analyze the efficacy and safety of apatinib in the treatment of stage IV osteogenic sarcoma after chemotherapy failure through a single-arm, prospective, and open clinical phase II study. Methods: Information on 34 patients with stage IV osteogenic sarcoma treated with apatinib after failure of chemotherapy in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between September 2015 and December 2019 was collected and analyzed. The participants included 23 males and 11 females, with an average age of 35.24 years (11–73 years). The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), PFS rate (PFR), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. The treatment-related adverse events (AEs) and safety of apatinib were also evaluated. Results: Of the 34 patients, 33 were able to be evaluated for efficacy. One patient received apatinib treatment for less than one cycle; therefore, only safety analysis was performed. The 12-week clinical evaluation showed that 2 patients had a partial response (PR), 24 patients had stable disease (SD), and 7 patients had progressive disease (PD). The ORR, DCR, and PFR at 12 weeks were 6.06% (2/33), 78.79% (26/33), and 82%, respectively. By the end of the follow-up, 6 patients had SD (18.18%, 6/33), 27 patients had PD (81.82%, 27/33), and 15 patients died because of disease progression (45.45%, 15/33). The ORR was 0 (0/33), the DCR was 18.18% (6/33), and the median PFS (mPFS) was 7.89 months (95% CI: 4.56–11.21). The median OS (mOS) was 17.61 months (95% CI: 10.85–24.37). The most common treatment-related AEs were hand-foot syndrome (35.29%, 12/34), proteinuria (32.35%, 11/34), and hypertension (32.35%, 11/34). Conclusions: Apatinib is effective and well tolerated in stage IV osteogenic sarcoma patients after chemotherapy failure.

Apatinib (YN968D1) is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2). We conducted a single-arm, nonrandomized phase II study (NCT03121846) to assess the efficacy and safety of apatinib in patients with stage IV sarcoma. We recruited 64 patients with stage IV sarcoma who had failed chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were progression-free survival rate (PFR), objective response rate (ORR), and disease control rate (DCR) at week 12. Treatment-related adverse effects (AEs) were evaluated. Fifty-nine patients were assessed for efficacy and 64 patients for AEs. The median PFS was 7.93 months. At 12 weeks, the PFR was 74%, the ORR was 16.95% (10/59), and the DCR was 86.44% (51/59). The final ORR was 15.25% (9/59) and the DCR was 57.63% (34/59). Notably, 22 patients (34.38%) who developed hypertension, hand-foot-skin reaction, or proteinuria had significantly longer OS than those without these AEs (18.20 vs. 10.73 months; P = 0.002). We conclude that apatinib is effective and well tolerated in patients with advanced sarcoma. The development of hypertension, hand-foot-skin reaction, or proteinuria may indicate a favorable prognosis, representing a novel finding in sarcoma patients.

Background: There is no standard treatment for stage IV soft tissue sarcoma (STS) after the failure of Adriamycin-based chemotherapy. This phase II study (NCT03121846) assessed the efficacy and safety of apatinib (YN968D1), a new tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets VEGFR-2, for patients with stage IV STS after chemotherapy failure. Methods: Forty-two subjects with stage IV STSs who had failed chemotherapy and who received Apatinib were recruited between September 2015 and February 2018. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were the PFS rate (PFR), objective response rate (ORR), and disease control rate (DCR) at week 12. Treatment-related adverse effects (AEs) were evaluated. Results: Forty-two subjects were evaluated for AEs and 38 subjects were evaluated for efficacy. At 12 weeks, the PFR, ORR, and DCR were 70%, 26.32% (10/38), and 86.84% (33/38), respectively. Regarding overall responses, the ORR and DCR were 23.68% (9/38) and 57.89% (22/38), respectively. The median PFS was 7.87 months, and the median overall survival (OS) was 17.55 months. The most common AEs included hypertension (n = 18, 42.86%), hand-foot-skin reaction (n = 15, 35.71%), apositia (n = 13, 30.95%), and proteinuria (n = 11, 26.19%). No subjects had grade 4 AEs and 11 subjects (26.19%) experienced grade 3 AEs, mainly hypertension, hand-foot-skin reaction, proteinuria, apositia, fatigue, pain, and dysgeusia. Notably, the subjects who experienced hypertension, hand-foot-skin reaction, or proteinuria had significantly longer OS than those without these AEs (P = 0.0003). Conclusion: With the largest Chinese STS cohort to date, we report that apatinib show good efficacy in advanced STS subjects with significant higher ORR and some adverse events may predict prognosis.

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma (ESOS) is an extremely rare malignancy with poor prognosis, accounting for 2-4% of all osteogenic sarcomas. The purpose of this study was to examine the oncological outcomes of this disease related to surgical treatment and/or combined adjuvant therapies and to analyze the associated prognostic factors in ESOS. From January 1990 to June 2016, 22 patients with primary ESOS were analyzed in this retrospective study. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier methods and compared with log-rank test. 22 patients were diagnosed with ESOS, 19 showed localized diseases and 3 presented with metastatic lesions. The median age at diagnosis was 55.5 years. Surgery resection was performed for all patients, 18 of whom received adjuvant chemotherapy. The median follow-up time was 48.5 months. There were 10 cases of recurrence and 9 patients developed new metastases. The 5-year OS rate for all patients was 58%. For localized cohort, the 5-year OS rate was 62%, and the 3-year PFS rate was 31% with a median PFS of 16 months. Univariate analysis of related prognosis factors showed that larger size of tumor (> 5.5 cm) and higher histologic grade emerged as significant factors associated with worse OS. The addition of combination chemotherapy has no effect found on OS or PFS in this study. In summary, for patients who presented with ESOS, larger tumor size and higher histologic grade indicate a lower OS rate. The combination chemotherapy does not improve the OS or PFS.

Sarcomas are a group of malignant tumors originating from mesenchymal tissue with a variety of cell subtypes. Despite several major treatment breakthroughs, standard treatment using surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy has failed to improve overall survival. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore new strategies and innovative therapies to further improve the survival rates of patients with sarcomas. Pathological angiogenesis has an important role in the growth and metastasis of tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) play a central role in tumor angiogenesis and represent potential targets for anticancer therapy. As a novel targeted therapy, especially with regard to angiogenesis, apatinib is a new type of small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that selectively targets VEGFR-2 and has shown encouraging anticancer activity in a wide range of malignancies, including gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and sarcomas. In this review, we summarize the preclinical and clinical data for apatinib, focusing primarily on its use in the treatment of sarcomas.

PURPOSE:This retrospective case-series study evaluated efficacy and safety of Endostar combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced bone and soft tissue sarcomas in stage IV.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Forty-seven patients diagnosed with stage IV bone and soft tissue sarcomas and treated with chemotherapy in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital were reviewed. Of these patients, 23 patients were treated with Endostar plus chemotherapy (designated as combined group), and 24 patients received only chemotherapy (designated as control group). Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR) and clinical benefit response (CBR) were analyzed to find the difference between these two groups with the purpose to investigate the role of Endostar in metastatic sarcomas.RESULTS:Endostar combined with chemotherapy had significantly increased PFS. In the combined group and control groups, the median PFS (8.6 months versus 4.4 months) and the CBR (47.8% versus 16.7%) showed significant difference (P = 0.032), while the median overall survival (11.7 months versus 10.6 months, P = 0.658) and the ORR (17.4% versus 8.3%, P = 0.167) showed no significant difference. The common grade 3-4 side effects for both groups were myelosuppression and transient elevation of transaminases.CONCLUSION:Endostar combined with chemotherapy had significant activity to increase the PFS and improve CBR in patients with advanced sarcomas, with tolerable side effects.

目的:探讨三氧化二砷(arsenic trioxide,As2O3)联合吉西他滨及多西他赛治疗骨肉瘤肺转移的临床疗效.方法:收集26例对一线化疗药物耐药的骨肉瘤肺转移患者,男性14例,女性12例,年龄11～62岁,平均31.2岁,所有患者均接受过传统规范化疗后出现肺转移.应用As2O3(剂量为10 mg/d,d1 ～ 28)联合吉西他滨(剂量为800 mg/m2,d1、d8)及多西他赛(剂量为75 mg/m2,d8)每3周重复给药,每2个化疗疗程复查疗效.结果:接受化疗的患者总体有效率(CR+PR)为34.6％(9/26).中位随访时间28.2(1～48)个月,中位总生存期(OS)为16.7个月(95％CI:7.561 ～ 18.058)和中位无进展生存期(PFS)为10.3个月(95％CI:6.541～8.754),1、2和4年生存率分别是61.5％、38.4％和15.4％.治疗后最常见的不良反应为骨髓抑制,而常见的非血液学不良反应包括心脏毒性、消化道反应及肝肾功能异常,对症处理后均明显缓解.结论:As2O3联合吉西他滨及多西他赛作为二线化疗药物治疗骨肉瘤肺转移的近期临床疗效较好,且有较好的耐受性.

Objective:To investigate the promising anti-tumor effects of gemcitabine and/or docetaxel on metastatic or unresectable soft tissue sarcomas.Methods:Data of 11 patients with advanced soft tissue sarcomas refractory to first-line chemotherapy treatment were enrolled in this study.They received gemcitabine alone or gemcitabine/docetaxel combination as follows:900 mg/nr gemcitabine on days 1 and 8,and 100 mg/nr docetaxel on day 8.The regimen was repeated every 3 weeks.When irradiation was conducted before drug therapy,the doses were reduced to 675 mg/nr gemcitabine on days 1 and 8,and 75 mg/nr docetaxel on day 8.The regimen was repeated every 3 weeks.Results:The gemcitabine/docetaxel combination was well tolerated.The most commonly observed hematologic toxicity of the combined therapy was neutropenia(45.5%).The most common non-hematologic toxicity observed was mucositis (45.5%).The overall response was 45.5%.Follow-ups ranging from 1 month to 36 months(median = 19 months ) revealed that the median overall survival time was 15.4 months(95%CI = 8.012 - 21.598 ) and the median progression-free survival time was 8.4 months(95%CI = 7.342 - 8.768 ).The one- and two-year survival rates were 81.8%and 27.3%,respectively.Conclusion:A gemcitabine /docetaxel regimen as second-line treatment for patients with advanced soft tissues sarcomas is effective and has acceptable toxicities. These results should be evaluated in a large-sampleⅢtrial.

Objective To discuss the related factors of early pathological fracture after curettage of benign bone tumors in femoral shaft.Methods The clinical data of 47 patients with benign bone tumors in femoral shaft,treated by curettage with bone graft via the vastus lateralis approach from March 2004 to March 2011,were retrospectively analyzed.Thirteen patients of them presented with early pathological fracture after the curettage.In fracture group,there were 13 cases,11 males and 2 females,and the time from finishing curettage to fracture occurring ranged from 21 to 36 days.In non-fracture group,there were 34 cases,23 males and 11 females.The following data of fracture group and non-fracture group were compared and analyzed,such as specific value of absolute width of tumor and transverse diameter of bone shaft,specific value of defect width of bone window and sagittal diameter of bone shaft,defect length-width ratio of bone window,defect morphology of bone window,classification of bone tumor,violence of causing injury and compliance to medical advice.Results The average defect length-width ratio of bone window in fracture group was 3.72±3.58,in non-fracture group was 2.67±6.35.For classification of tumor,in fracture group 1 case was in incubation period,6 in active period,6 in invasion period; in non fracture group 21 cases were in incubation period,10 in active period,and 3 in invasion period.Four cases in fracture group had poor compliance to medical advice,and 9 in non-fracture group had good compliance.Between two groups,there were no statistical differences in specific value of absolute width of tumor and transverse diameter of bone shaft,specific value of defect width of bone window and sagittal diameter of bone shaft,and defect morphology of bone window.Conclusion When defect length-width ratio of bone window is larger than 4,the classification of tumor causes expanded incisal edge,and the cortical bone was damaged extensively,there are more possibilities for pathological fracture.