Dr. Pautier on Remaining Challenges in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Patricia Pautier, MD, head of the Medical Day Hospital Unit at the Institut Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, discusses remaining challenges in treating patients with metastatic/advanced uterine and soft tissue leiomyosarcoma.

The main challenge with treating patients with advanced soft tissue leiomyosarcomas is that there isn't a specific target or molecular alteration for investigators to focus on, says Pautier. Therefore, no other therapies have been made available beyond chemotherapy, explains Pautier.

A goal is to enhance the survival of patients in the first-line setting, and to develop drugs other than standard chemotherapy, adds Pautier. In this particular disease, it is difficult to conduct specific studies because of the different histologic subtypes. Response rates and the evolution of disease vary between subtypes. As such, specific studies must be dedicated to examining drugs in specific histologic subtypes in order to progress the field, according to Pautier.

It is difficult to gain access to drugs in this rare disease and to conduct randomized studies. The field will have to conduct international studies to achieve responses more rapidly, concludes Pautier.