The Role of Inflammation in Sarcoma

Abstract

Sarcomas encompass a heterogenous group of tumors with diverse pathologically and clinically overlapping features. It is a rarely curable disease, and their management requires a multidisciplinary team approach. Chronic inflammation has emerged as one of the hallmarks of tumors including sarcomas. Classical inflammation-associated sarcomas comprise the inflammatory malignant fibrous histiocytoma and Kaposi sarcoma. The identification of specific chromosomal translocations and important intracellular signaling pathways such as Ras/Raf/MAPK, insulin-like growth factor, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, sonic hedgehog and Notch together with the increasing knowledge of angiogenesis has led to development of targeted therapies that aim to interrupt these pathways. Innovative agents like oncolytic viruses opened the way to design new therapeutic options with encouraging findings. Preclinical evidence also highlights the therapeutic potential of anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals as they can inhibit multiple pathways while being less toxic. This chapter gives an overview of actual therapeutic standards, newest evidence-based studies and exciting options for targeted therapies in sarcomas.

Soft tissue sarcoma in the dog – part 1: a current review

“…The majority of STS have the latter characteristic, which may suggest there is no common mutational pathway for development. Tumour initiation and progression may be a random event, possibly exacerbated by the increased mutagenesis that can accompany localised areas of inflammation (Radons , ).…”

Periodontal microorganisms and diagnosis of malignancy: A cross-sectional study

“…On the other hand, inflammation has been reported to play a role also in the development of other malignancies like leukemia, sarcoma and brain tumors, also here encountered. Thus, pooling all the malignancies together for current analyses was entitled [36,37]. The strength of our present study is the long observation time as regards the development of malignancies in the cohort.…”

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“…Tumors are an amalgamation of malignant cells, infiltrating stromal cells, and immune cells. Together, these malignant cells and non-malignant infiltrating cells can orchestrate a chronic inflammatory and immunosuppressive microenvironment that can restrict both oncolytic viral and immunotherapeutic approaches in some tumors 1, 2, 3, 4. Although childhood and adult cancers share several commonalities, we are increasingly aware that pediatric cancers are unique and that the observations and lessons learned from the management of adult malignancies may not be wholly applicable to our pediatric patients.…”