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Current and Future Directions for Angiosarcoma Therapy

  • Sarcoma (SH Okuno, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Angiosarcomas are rare vascular neoplasms that are among the most aggressive subtypes of soft tissue sarcomas. Surgical resection is often challenging even in localized disease, as the infiltrative nature of these cancers leads to frequent local and metastatic recurrences. Cytotoxic chemotherapy, including anthracycline-based regimens and taxanes can produce significant responses in a subset of patients but durability is limited with most patients ultimately succumbing to metastatic disease. Targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors is usually well-tolerated but prone to development of resistance. Few head-to-head trials have addressed the optimal sequence of therapies, or demonstrated conclusive benefits of one therapy over another based on clinical and etiologic factors. Novel therapies in clinical trials, including antibodies to endoglin and checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated exciting early activity in patients with angiosarcoma. Improved understanding of the genetic heterogeneity within various angiosarcoma subtypes may identify predictive biomarkers to match patients to effective existing and future therapies. Overall, angiosarcoma patients with optimal performance status are best served in clinical trials that incorporate novel combinations of cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies.

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  1. University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, 1475 NW 12th Avenue, Suite 3300 (D8-4), Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Vaia Florou MD & Breelyn A. Wilky MD

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Correspondence to Breelyn A. Wilky MD.

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Vaia Florou declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Breelyn A. Wilky has received research support through a grant from Merck, and has received compensation from Novartis, Janssen Oncology, and Lilly for service as a consultant.

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Florou, V., Wilky, B.A. Current and Future Directions for Angiosarcoma Therapy. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 19, 14 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-018-0531-3

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