Two targeted therapies act against Ewing's sarcoma tumors

A pair of targeted therapies shrank tumors in some patients with treatment-resistant Ewing's sarcoma or desmoplastic small-round-cell tumors, according to research led by investigators from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA, reported at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

Five of 17 Ewing's sarcoma patients responded to the combination, with two achieving complete responses, one for 27 weeks. The researchers noted that the ability to manage patients' treatment-related side effects is vital to maintaining the therapy and slowing disease progression. The study was published simultaneously in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. This research was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute.

Ewing's sarcoma primarily affects the bones and occurs most often in teenagers and young adults and relapse is common, said lead researcher Aung Naing, assistant professor in MD Anderson's Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics.