Research into soft tissue sarcoma
Researchers around the world are looking at the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.
Go to Cancer Research UK’s clinical trials database if you are looking for a trial for soft tissue sarcoma in the UK. You need to talk to your specialist if there are any trials that you think you might be able to take part in.
Some of the trials on this page have now stopped recruiting people. It takes time before the results are available. This is because the trial team follow the patients for a period of time and collect and analyse the results. We have included this ongoing research to give examples of the type of research being carried out in soft tissue sarcoma.
Research and clinical trials
All cancer treatments must be fully researched before they can be used for everyone. This is so we can be sure that:
- they work
- they work better than the treatments already available
- they are safe
It can be more difficult to do research into rare cancers such as soft tissue sarcoma because there are fewer people to take part in them. So, compared to more common cancers there are relatively few trials.
Chemotherapy
Researchers are looking at how to improve treatment for people with soft tissue sarcoma. 
, and are the main treatments used to treat soft tissue sarcoma. You usually have a combination of these.
Rhabdomyosarcoma
A trial is looking at whether changes to chemotherapy and radiotherapy can improve treatment outcomes for rhabdomyosarcoma.
The trial is looking at:
- new combinations of chemotherapy as initial treatment (induction)
- the timing, dose and extent of radiotherapy
- chemotherapy to keep the cancer under control after initial chemotherapy. This is called maintenance treatment.
The trial aims to better the treatment outcomes and of people with rhabdomyosarcoma.
Retroperitoneal sarcoma
Another trial is looking at having chemotherapy before surgery for soft tissue sarcoma that has a high risk of coming back. This is for a type of soft tissue sarcoma called retroperitoneal sarcoma.
The main aims of the trial are to find out:
- if chemotherapy before surgery improves how people do after treatment
- more about the side effects of treatment
- how treatment affects quality of life
3 different treatments in older people with soft tissue sarcoma
This study is looking at 3 different chemotherapy treatments for people with advanced soft tissue sarcoma. It is for people that are over 65 years old.
Doctors treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma with a chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin once every 3 weeks. Doxorubicin can have side effects which might interfere with their quality of life.
Doctors would like to improve the quality of life of people having treatment for advanced soft tissue sarcoma. They think that giving a smaller amount of doxorubicin more often or using another chemotherapy drug called cyclophosphamide with a steroid might help. But they aren’t sure. The researchers are using this study to try and find out.
A new drug with radiotherapy
A is looking at a new drug with radiotherapy to treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Advanced sarcoma means the cancer has spread to lymph nodes. Or it has spread to other parts of the body with or without cancer cells in the lymph nodes.
The trial is looking at how safe it is to have the new drug with radiotherapy. It is also looking at how well people with advanced disease is tolerating it.
Surgery
Functional muscle transfer
During some operations for soft tissue sarcoma, your surgeon might need to remove a large area of tissue from your leg. This is to ensure that no cancer cells are left behind. Removing a large area of tissue might affect how well you can use your leg.
A study is looking at how well you can use your leg after a procedure called functional muscle transfer. This surgery aims to help improve the way you can use your leg.
At the moment there are no studies to show how well people can use their leg after this type of surgery. So, the results will be compared against people who did not have the functional muscle transfer procedure.
Fluorescence guided surgery
Researchers are looking for ways to improve the surgery. The aim of the surgery is to remove the sarcoma with a . Having a clear margin means it is less likely that any sarcoma is left in the body and therefore that the sarcoma will come back.
But getting a clear margin can be difficult because sarcoma can be large and deep in the body. This means that sarcoma cells may be left and could start to regrow.
A trial is comparing fluorescence guided surgery to standard surgery for people with sarcoma.
They are looking at using a fluorescent dye during surgery that collects in the sarcoma. This is called fluorescence guided surgery. This might help the surgeon to see the sarcoma better and successfully remove it along with a clear margin. But they don’t know this for sure. So the team want to compare standard surgery with fluorescence guided surgery.
Targeted therapy
Imatinib (Glivec)
Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) is a type of sarcoma. It is usually treated with surgery and then a (biological therapy). This is to try to stop the cancer from coming back.
A targeted cancer drug often used is imatinib (Glivec). It works by blocking a protein called that tells cells to divide and grow. Blocking this protein might stop cancer cells from coming back. You usually take imatinib for 3 years after surgery and then have regular follow ups.
A trial is looking at whether taking imatinib for 5 years is better at stopping GIST from coming back.
Pazopanib
Pazopanib is already used to help people with soft tissue sarcoma that has come back (recurrent soft tissue sarcoma). Another trial is looking at whether pazopanib can also help people with soft tissue sarcoma that hasn’t spread.
The main aims of the trial are to find out how well pazopanib and radiotherapy work together. And the side effects of the treatment.
Sunitinib
Doctors are looking for new ways to treat sarcomas. In this trial they are looking at sunitinib and nivolumab.
Sunitinib is a targeted cancer drug called a cancer growth blocker. It works by blocking substances that sarcoma cells need to grow and divide.
Nivolumab is a . It is a type of . It works by helping the immune system find and kill sarcoma cells.
In this trial you have both sunitinib and nivolumab. The main aim of this trial is to find out how well this treatment works for soft tissue sarcoma that has come back after treatment.
Synovial sarcoma
Targeted therapy with chemotherapy
Synovial sarcomas are a type of tumour where the cell of origin is unknown. These sarcomas are made up of cells that don’t look like any specific type of soft tissue. So, it is hard to say where the cancer started.
A trial is looking at a targeted drug called ramucirumab with chemotherapy. It is for people with synovial sarcoma. Researchers are looking at how safe the drug is and how well it works with chemotherapy.
Immunotherapy
Another trial is looking at using a type of immunotherapy to treat synovial sarcoma. The type of immunotherapy is called afamitresgene autoleucel SPEAR T-cell. are a type of . They are part of your immune system . They are very good at fighting infection but not so good at recognising and attacking cancer cells. In this trial they want to help the T cells to recognise and attack sarcoma cells.
The main aims of this trial are to find out more about this type of treatment and see how well it works.
Other treatments
Chemotherapy is used in some situations to treat sarcoma. But chemotherapy doesn’t always work. So, doctors are looking for new ways to treat a cancer that continues to grow or comes back after treatment. This is called refractory or relapsed cancer.
A trial is looking at a drug called pegylated recombinant human arginase (BCT-100). It reduces the amount of arginine available in cells.
Arginine is a protein (an amino acid). It is important for cells to grow and survive. Normal, healthy cells can make arginine using a protein (an enzyme) that is often missing in cancer cells. If the amount of arginine available is reduced, it starves the cancer cells and stops them from growing.
Healthy cells are able to survive much better than cancer cells when there is less arginine available. This is partly because they can make it. So, by reducing the amount of arginine available the cancer might stop growing.
