Osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma: Clinical aspects, biomarker discovery and liquid biopsy

Bone sarcomas, although rare, are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The most frequent primary bone cancers include osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma. The treatment approaches are heterogeneous and mainly chosen based on precise tumour staging. Unfortunately, clinical outcome has not changed significantly in over 30 years and tumour grade is still the best prognosticator of metastatic disease and survival. An option to improve this scenario is to identify molecular biomarkers in the early stage of the disease, or even before the disease onset. Blood-based liquid biopsies are a promising, non-invasive way to achieve this goal and there are an increasing number of studies which investigate their potential application in bone cancer diagnosis, prognosis and personalised therapy. This review summarises the interplay between clinical and molecular aspects of the three main bone sarcomas, alongside biomarker discovery and promising applications of liquid biopsy in each tumour context.

Automated summary

Bone sarcomas, rare but deadly tumors, have diverse treatment approaches based on tumor staging. Despite no significant changes in clinical outcomes over the past 30 years, early identification of molecular biomarkers may improve disease prognosis.