Beneficial Use of the Combination of Gemcitabine and Dacarbazine in Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Real-World Data.

BACKGROUND: The combination of gemcitabine and dacarbazine has exhibited efficacy in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for aSTSs, albeit without robust confirmation from larger clinical trials. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study in a single institution involving aSTS patients treated with gemcitabine and dacarbazine. RESULTS: 95 patients were assessed, pointing to a benefit in PFS of 3.5 months and an OS of 14.2 months. Patients with translocated histotypes had better PFS, while those with platelet-lymphocyte ratios (PLRs) surpassing a specific threshold or lower albumin levels had poorer overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: This study validates previous findings from three phase I-II trials, affirming the utility of this treatment approach in routine clinical practice.

Response to Combination of Pembrolizumab and Axitinib in Hereditary Leyomiomatosis and Renal Cell Cancer (HLRCC).

In current clinical guidelines, such as those provided by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), evidence for treatment is based on a small clinical trial that included patients with HLRCC. They support the use of the combination of erlotinib and bevacizumab as the first therapeutic option in this rare condition. In the present study, we report a rare case of this condition in an 18-year-old male with a family history of kidney cancer whom we successfully treated with surgery and a novel drug treatment modality based on the combination of an immune check-point inhibitor (ICPI) and a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) with excellent and promising results.

A Growth Modulation Index-Based GEISTRA Score as a New Prognostic Tool for Trabectedin Efficacy in Patients with Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Spanish Group for Sarcoma Research (GEIS) Retrospective Study.

The aim of this study was to identify an easily reliable prognostic score that selects the subset of advanced soft tissue sarcoma (ASTS) patients with a higher benefit with trabectedin in terms of time to progression and overall survival. A retrospective series of 357 patients with ASTS treated with trabectedin as second- or further-line in 19 centers across Spain was analyzed. First, it was confirmed that patients with high growth modulation index (GMI > 1.33) were associated with the better clinical outcome. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with a GMI > 1.33. Thus, GEISTRA score was based on metastasis free-interval (MFI ≤ 9.7 months), Karnofsky < 80%, Non L-sarcomas and better response in the previous systemic line. The median GMI was 0.82 (0-69), with 198 patients (55%) with a GMI < 1, 41 (11.5%) with a GMI 1-1.33 and 118 (33.1%) with a GMI > 1.33. The lowest GEISTRA score showed a median of time-to-progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) of 5.7 and 19.5 months, respectively, whereas it was 1.8 and 3.1 months for TTP and OS, respectively, for the GEISTRA 4 score. This prognostic tool can contribute to better selecting candidates for trabectedin treatment in ASTS.