Anti-angiogenic therapy, a new player in the field of sarcoma treatment

Sarcomas encompass a heterogeneous family of mesenchymal malignancies. In metastatic disease improvement in outcome has been limited and there is a clear need for the development of new therapies: One potential target is angiogenesis, already an accepted target for treatment of more prevalent cancers. Multiple (pre)clinical studies focused on the role of angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic treatment in sarcomas. However, getting significant results is complicated due to the relatively small number of patients and the broad range of sarcoma subtypes. Recently, pazopanib has been approved for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma patients, which is an important step forward and paves the way for the introduction of anti-angiogenic treatment in sarcomas. However, more studies are needed to understand the biological mechanisms by which patients respond to angiogenic inhibitors and to detect markers of response. This review covers the knowledge that has been gained on the role of angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic therapy in sarcomas. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.