Developing therapeutic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas

Abstract

Recent progress in the therapy of sarcomas is highlighted by the rapid development and approval of the molecularly targeted therapy imatinib mesylate (STI571, Gleevec) for advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Several other agents are in various stages of clinical development with far less rewarding results based on the preliminary data available. Amongst these, the encouraging ones include the nucleoside analogue gemcitabine and gemcitabine/docetaxel combination with some selective activity in sarcomas of gynaecological origin. The marine compound ecteinascidin-743 (ET743) has been studied in two different schedules (24-h and 3-h infusions) with some interesting biological activity worthy of further investigation. Identification of new agents with activity in this diverse group of diseases is extremely important.