The Future of Targeted Therapy for Leiomyosarcoma

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 938
• Main Authors: Denu, Ryan A, Dann, Amanda M, Keung, Emily Z, Nakazawa, Michael S, Nassif Haddad, Elise F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 26-02-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Cell cycle; Chemotherapy; Chromosomes; DNA damage; DNA repair; Epigenetic inheritance; Epigenetics; Gene expression; Genomes; Leiomyosarcoma; Macrophages; Metastasis; Mutation; Radiation; Response rates; Retroperitoneum; Review; Sarcoma; Smooth muscle; Soft tissue sarcoma; Telomeres; TOR protein; Tumors; leiomyosarcoma; transcriptomics; precision oncology; targeted therapy; genomics; immunotherapy
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers16050938

Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is an aggressive subtype of soft tissue sarcoma that arises from smooth muscle cells, most commonly in the uterus and retroperitoneum. LMS is a heterogeneous disease with diverse clinical and molecular characteristics that have yet to be fully understood. Molecular profiling has uncovered possible targets amenable to treatment, though this has yet to translate into approved targeted therapies in LMS. This review will explore historic and recent findings from molecular profiling, highlight promising avenues of current investigation, and suggest possible future strategies to move toward the goal of molecularly matched treatment of LMS. We focus on targeting the DNA damage response, the macrophage-rich micro-environment, the PI3K/mTOR pathway, epigenetic regulators, and telomere biology.