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PurposeEwing sarcoma (ES) is a primitive sarcoma defined by EWSR1-ETS fusions as the primary driver alteration. To better define the landscape of cooperating secondary genetic alterations in ES, we analyzed clinical genomic profiling data of 113 patients with ES, a cohort including more adult patients (> 18 years) and more patients with advanced stage at presentation than previous genomic cohorts.MethodsThe data set consisted of patients with ES prospectively tested with the US Food and Drug Administration-cleared Memorial Sloan Kettering-Integrated Mutation Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets large panel, hybrid capture-based next-generation sequencing assay. To assess the functional significance of ERF loss, we generated ES cell lines with increased expression of ERF and lines with knockdown of ERF. We assessed cell viability, clonogenic growth, and motility in these ES lines and performed transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses. Finally, we validated our findings in vivo using cell line xenografts.ResultsNovel subsets were defined by recurrent secondary alterations in ERF, which encodes an ETS domain transcriptional repressor, in 7% of patients (five truncating mutations, one deep deletion, and two missense mutations) and in FGFR1 in another 2.7% (one amplification and two known activating mutations). ERF alterations were nonoverlapping with STAG2 alterations. In vitro, increased expression of ERF decreased tumor cell growth, colony formation, and motility in two ES cell lines, whereas ERF loss induced cellular proliferation and clonogenic growth. Transcriptomic analysis of cell lines with ERF loss revealed an increased expression of genes and pathways associated with aggressive tumor biology, and epigenetic, chromatin-based studies revealed that ERF competes with EWSR1-FLI1 at ETS-binding sites.ConclusionOur findings open avenues to new insights into ES pathobiology and to novel therapeutic approaches in a subset of patients with ES.

Aims: Soft‐tissue tumours are rare and both accurate diagnosis and proper treatment represent a global challenge. Current treatment guidelines also recommend review by specialised pathologists. Here we report on international consensus‐based datasets for the pathology reporting of biopsy and resection specimens of soft‐tissue sarcomas. The datasets were produced under the auspices of the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR), a global alliance of international pathology and cancer organisations. Methods and results: According to the ICCR's guidelines for dataset development, an international expert panel consisting of pathologists, a surgical oncologist, and a medical oncologist produced a set of core and noncore data items for biopsy and resection specimens based on a critical review and discussion of current evidence. All professionals involved were subspecialised soft‐tissue sarcoma experts and affiliated with tertiary referral centres. Commentary was provided for each data item to explain the rationale for selecting it as a core or noncore element, its clinical relevance, and to highlight potential areas of disagreement or lack of evidence, in which case a consensus position was formulated. Following international public consultation, the documents were finalised and ratified, and the datasets, which included a synoptic reporting guide, were published on the ICCR website. Conclusion: These first international datasets for soft‐tissue sarcomas are aimed to promote high‐quality, standardised pathology reporting. Their adoption will improve consistency of reporting, facilitate multidisciplinary communication, and enhance comparability of data, all of which will help to improve patient's management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We sought to define the prognostic significance of histologic subtype for extremity/truncal liposarcoma (LPS). Background: LPS, the most common sarcoma, is comprised of 5 histologic subtypes. Despite their distinct behaviors, LPS outcomes are frequently reported as a single entity. Methods: We analyzed data on all patients from a single-institution prospective database treated from July 1982 to September 2017 for primary, nonmetastatic, extremity or truncal LPS of known subtype. Clinicopathologic variables were tested using competing risk analyses for association with disease-specific death (DSD), distant recurrence (DR), and local recurrence (LR). Results: Among 1001 patients, median follow-up in survivors was 5.4 years. Tumor size and subtype were independently associated with DSD and DR. Size, subtype, and R1 resection were independently associated with LR. DR was most frequent among pleomorphic and round cell LPS; the former recurred early (43% by 3 years), and the latter over a longer period (23%, 3 years; 37%, 10 years). LR was most common in dedifferentiated LPS, in which it occurred early (24%, 3 years; 33%, 5 years), followed by pleomorphic LPS (18%, 3 years; 25%, 10 years). Conclusions: Histologic subtype is the factor most strongly associated with DSD, DR, and LR in extremity/truncal LPS. Both risk and timing of adverse outcomes vary by subtype. These data may guide selective use of systemic therapy for patients with round cell and pleomorphic LPS, which carry a high risk of DR, and radiotherapy for LPS subtypes at high risk of LR when treated with surgery alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the pre-treatment imaging features and clinical course of undifferentiated round cell sarcomas with CIC-DUX4 and BCOR-CCNB3 translocations. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, several pre-treatment imaging features (tumor location, size, enhancement pattern, necrosis, flow voids, calcification, and FDG avidity) and the clinical course of patients were evaluated. Results: In 12 patients with CIC-DUX4 sarcomas (median age, 24 years; range, 12–75), sarcomas were located in the soft tissue (n = 10), bone (n = 1), and lungs (n = 1). On MRI, all 10 CIC-DUX4 sarcomas presented as a large necrotic mass (mean size 6.7 cm, range 2.3–11.3) with 100% demonstrating contrast enhancement, 60% showing flow voids, and 20% demonstrating fluid-fluid levels. On PET, the mean SUVmax was 13.2 (range, 8.5–18.1). Among 12 patients with follow-up, 3 died within a year of diagnosis. The most common site of metastases was the lungs (5/12). In 5 patients with BCOR-CCNB3 sarcomas (median age, 14 years; range, 2–17), sarcomas were located in the spine (n = 2), femur (n = 1), tibia (n = 1), and pelvis (n = 1). On radiograph or CT, 2 were lytic, 3 were sclerotic. Soft tissue calcifications occurred in 40% of BCOR-CCNB3 sarcomas. On MRI, all 3 BCOR-CCNB3 tumors enhanced with 33% demonstrating flow voids and 66% exhibiting necrosis. On PET, the mean SUVmax was 6.3 (range 5.7–6.9). Conclusion: CIC-DUX4 sarcomas often present as necrotic and hypermetabolic soft tissue masses while sarcomas with BCOR-CCNB3 translocations are vascular bone lesions with necrosis at imaging. CIC-DUX4 sarcomas are clinically more aggressive than BCOR-CCNB3 sarcomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurrence of a soft tissue sarcoma typically manifests as a round or oval mass at imaging, and recurrent high-grade soft tissue sarcomas generally enlarge relatively rapidly. We present a case of high-grade undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma in the calf of a 48-year-old male that recurred as a thin, curvilinear "tail" of enhancing tissue at magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with extremely indolent growth over a 7-year period. The unusual imaging finding of a slowly enlarging "tail" should not be dismissed as postoperative changes, even for a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clear cell sarcoma ( CCS) typically presents as a tumor in the deep soft tissue of extremities, but when centered in the dermis it may be confused with a melanocytic nevus, primary nodular or metastatic melanoma. Compound variants of CCS, i.e. tumor cells present in both the epidermis and underlying soft tissue have not yet been described. Herein we report such a case, which initially presented as a nodule on the left wrist of a young woman at 19 years of age. The lesion was then interpreted as 'Spitz nevus, compound type'. Twelve years later the patient noticed an enlarged lymph node in the right axilla. The excised lymph node was nearly completely replaced by malignant tumor cells, which were immunoreactive for S100 protein. They resembled the tumor cells of the wrist lesion. Cytogenetic analysis of the metastatic tumor revealed a t(12;22) translocation. Fluorescence in situ hybridization confirmed Ewing's sarcoma breakpoint region 1 ( EWSR1) rearrangement in 70% of the tumor cells, thereby supporting the diagnosis of metastatic CCS. Our case is of interest because it documents that CCS can involve the epidermis. This observation expands the morphological spectrum associated with this tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine common imaging features of low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma (LGFMS), a rare subtype of fibrosarcoma with a benign histological appearance but with a propensity for local recurrence and metastasis. Materials and methods: By review of medical records, 29 patients (14 males, 15 females) with mean age of 41 years (range, 11-64 years) with diagnosis of LGFMS and imaging available in PACS were identified. The study included radiography (9/29), ultrasound (1/29), CT (14/29), and MRI (22/29). Imaging features evaluated included anatomic site, and lesion size, number, location, US echogenicity, CT attenuation, calcifications, MR signal intensity pattern, and contrast enhancement. Results: Twenty-two patients had imaging at initial diagnosis, and seven had imaging only at local recurrence. The majority of tumors (27/29) were deep in tissue, with mean size of 6.2 cm (range, 1.4-19.0 cm). Tumor was single at initial diagnosis and multiple at local recurrence; lower extremity was the most common site. On radiographs, tumor was visible in four of nine without bone erosion or calcification. Areas of CT attenuation hypodense to muscle were seen in 13/14 patients. Calcification was uncommon (3/14). On fluid-sensitive MRI sequences, the predominant signal intensity was hyperintense to muscle in 11/21 patients. In 13/21 patients, tumor displayed either a brain gyriform pattern of alternating hypointense and hyperintense signal intensity (9/13) or intralesional nodules (3/13); 1 case had both patterns. On US tumor was solid with heterogeneous echogenicity. Conclusion: LGFMS is commonly single at initial diagnosis and multiple at local recurrence. LGFMS frequently shows areas of CT attenuation hypodense to muscle and gyriform patterns of signal intensity and contrast enhancement at MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of dedifferentiation typically occurs in soft tissue sarcomas where a low grade or well-differentiated tumor shows an abrupt transformation to a high-grade sarcoma without lineage specificity. The biological behavior and metastatic potential of these tumors is dictated by the dedifferentiated phenotype. Tumor material was available from two dedifferentiated liposarcomas. We performed cDNA microarray analysis of a dedifferentiated liposarcoma in which the atypical lipomatous/well-differentiated and dedifferentiated portions were grossly distinct, to find differentially expressed genes in the dedifferentiated component compared to the well-differentiated component. There were 100 differentially expressed genes, both up- and down-regulated in the high grade sarcoma. In addition, we performed RT-PCR on selected genes in both cases to confirm the microarray findings. We discuss the expression patterns of these genes in comparison to other studies in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overexpression of HER-2/neu and p53 has been associated with poor outcome in many neoplasms. Their role in patients with osteosarcoma is unclear. We studied the expression of HER-2/neu and p53 in 22 osteosarcoma samples (from 20 patients—2 had locally recurrent disease) biopsied at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) from 1996-2000 using both immunohistochemical (THC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. Fourteen patients (14 samples) presented with Stage II and 6 patients (8 samples) presented with Stage III disease. Median follow-up is two years (range one year to five years). Four of 22 (18%) samples showed focal membranous or cytoplasmic positivity for HER-2/neu and six of 22 samples (27%) showed nuclear positivity for p53 by THC analysis. In contrast, none of 22 tested samples showed gene amplification for HER-2/neu by FISH analysis. Seven of 13 HER-2/neu and p53 negative patients (54%) are currently disease free (between one year to five years). In this sample of patients, the HER-2/ neu oncogene is not overexpressed or amplified in osteosarcoma; six of 22 samples (27%) showed overexpression of p53 by THC analysis. By FISH, none of the samples demonstrated deletion of p53. Neither HER2/neu nor p53 expression was important for the biology of osteosarcoma in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. For extremity soft tissue sarcomas (STS), surgical resection remains the standard of care, and the addition of chemotherapy is controversial. This was a phase Ib/II trial of neoadjuvant therapy for patients with STS. Methods. Patients with high grade, extremity STS of >8 cm and amenable to definitive resection were treated with up to four 21-day cycles of 900 mg/m² gemcitabine on days 1 and 8, 75 mg/m² docetaxel on day 8, and 400 mg of pazopanib daily (GDP), followed by surgery and, if indicated, radiation therapy. Primary and secondary endpoints (phase Ib portion) were the safety and rate of pathologic response. Results. The trial was discontinued because of slow accrual after inclusion of five patients (leiomyosarcoma: two; undif-ferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma: three). Two patients completed four treatment cycles: one underwent surgery and one had insufficient response and received additional therapies. Three patients discontinued treatment because of toxicity. Grade 3 adverse events included hypertension, fatigue, aspartate aminotransferase(AST)or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation, hoarseness, and myelotoxicity. There were no complete or partial responses. One patient had ≥90% pathologic response. Among four patients who underwent resection, three remain free of disease, and one patient eventually relapsed. Conclusion. GDP combination used in the neoadjuvant setting resulted in significanttoxicity; despite pathologic responses, no objective responses occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: BackgroundEpithelioid sarcoma is a rare, yet aggressive soft tissue neoplasm that has not previously been reported to originate in the cervix.: CaseA 29-year-old woman was seen in consultation at our institution after having been diagnosed with a poorly differentiated carcinoma of the cervix, which was treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Examination of the original biopsy material with additional studies led to a diagnosis of epithelioid sarcoma of the cervix.: ConclusionEpithelioid sarcoma can occur in the cervix and should be included in the differential diagnosis of cervical neoplasms. Additional cases are needed to develop optimum treatment strategies and predict prognosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Treatment with doxorubicin is a present standard of care for patients with metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma and median overall survival for those treated is 12-16 months, but few, if any, novel treatments or chemotherapy combinations have been able to improve these poor outcomes. Olaratumab is a human antiplatelet-derived growth factor receptor α monoclonal antibody that has antitumour activity in human sarcoma xenografts. We aimed to assess the efficacy of olaratumab plus doxorubicin in patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma.Methods: We did an open-label phase 1b and randomised phase 2 study of doxorubicin plus olaratumab treatment in patients with unresectable or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma at 16 clinical sites in the USA. For both the phase 1b and phase 2 parts of the study, eligible patients were aged 18 years or older and had a histologically confirmed diagnosis of locally advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma not previously treated with an anthracycline, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2, and available tumour tissue to determine PDGFRα expression by immunohistochemistry. In the phase 2 part of the study, patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either olaratumab (15 mg/kg) intravenously on day 1 and day 8 plus doxorubicin (75 mg/m(2)) or doxorubicin alone (75 mg/m(2)) on day 1 of each 21-day cycle for up to eight cycles. Randomisation was dynamic and used the minimisation randomisation technique. The phase 1b primary endpoint was safety and the phase 2 primary endpoint was progression-free survival using a two-sided α level of 0.2 and statistical power of 0.8. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01185964.Findings: 15 patients were enrolled and treated with olaratumab plus doxorubicin in the phase 1b study, and 133 patients were randomised (66 to olaratumab plus doxorubicin; 67 to doxorubicin alone) in the phase 2 trial, 129 (97%) of whom received at least one dose of study treatment (64 received olaratumab plus doxorubicin, 65 received doxorubicin). Median progression-free survival in phase 2 was 6.6 months (95% CI 4.1-8.3) with olaratumab plus doxorubicin and 4.1 months (2.8-5.4) with doxorubicin (stratified hazard ratio [HR] 0.67; 0.44-1.02, p=0.0615). Median overall survival was 26.5 months (20.9-31.7) with olaratumab plus doxorubicin and 14.7 months (9.2-17.1) with doxorubicin (stratified HR 0.46, 0.30-0.71, p=0.0003). The objective response rate was 18.2% (9.8-29.6) with olaratumab plus doxorubicin and 11.9% (5.3-22.2) with doxorubicin (p=0.3421). Steady state olaratumab serum concentrations were reached during cycle 3 with mean maximum and trough concentrations ranging from 419 μg/mL (geometric coefficient of variation in percentage [CV%] 26.2) to 487 μg/mL (CV% 33.0) and from 123 μg/mL (CV% 31.2) to 156 μg/mL (CV% 38.0), respectively. Adverse events that were more frequent with olaratumab plus doxorubicin versus doxorubicin alone included neutropenia (37 [58%] vs 23 [35%]), mucositis (34 [53%] vs 23 [35%]), nausea (47 [73%] vs 34 [52%]), vomiting (29 [45%] vs 12 [18%]), and diarrhoea (22 [34%] vs 15 [23%]). Febrile neutropenia of grade 3 or higher was similar in both groups (olaratumab plus doxorubicin: eight [13%] of 64 patients vs doxorubicin: nine [14%] of 65 patients).Interpretation: This study of olaratumab with doxorubicin in patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma met its predefined primary endpoint for progression-free survival and achieved a highly significant improvement of 11.8 months in median overall survival, suggesting a potential shift in the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma.Funding: Eli Lilly and Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 50% of patients with chondrosarcomas exhibit gain-of-function mutations in either isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) or IDH2. In this study, we performed genome-wide CpG methylation sequencing of chondrosarcoma biopsies and found that IDH mutations were associated with DNA hypermethylation at CpG islands but not other genomic regions. Regions of CpG island hypermethylation were enriched for genes implicated in stem cell maintenance/differentiation and lineage specification. In murine 10T1/2 mesenchymal progenitor cells, expression of mutant IDH2 led to DNA hypermethylation and an impairment in differentiation that could be reversed by treatment with DNA-hypomethylating agents. Introduction of mutant IDH2 also induced loss of contact inhibition and generated undifferentiated sarcomas in vivo. The oncogenic potential of mutant IDH2 correlated with the ability to produce 2-hydroxyglutarate. Together, these data demonstrate that neomorphic IDH2 mutations can be oncogenic in mesenchymal cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]