The largest analysis of its kind has found that Caucasians are much more likely than people in other racial/ethnic groups to develop a rare bone and soft tissue cancer called Ewing's sarcoma. In addition, among Caucasians with this cancer, men are more likely to die than women.

The tumor suppressor gene pRb2/p130 may provide the first independent prognostic biomarker in cases of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), according to an international collaboration of researchers, including scientists at Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena and Center of Oncological Research of Mercogliano in Avellino, Italy.

Based on a pilot study in children with sarcoma, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) believe that immunotherapy could prove beneficial in treating high-risk forms of this cancer.

Primary anorectal melanoma is a rare and very aggressive disorder. A report published on March 14, 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses such a case. A 41-year-old man presented with a 6-month history of changed defecation and rectal bleeding.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) was much more sensitive and more accurate than conventional imaging methods in detecting response to treatment in sarcoma patients, according to a UCLA study that is among the first to directly compare PET to CT scanning.

A new study reveals significant racial and ethnic differences in the treatment and survival of patients with soft-tissue sarcomas, a rare but dangerous cancer that begins in muscle, fat, blood vessels or other supporting tissue of the body. The findings are published in the March 1, 2008, issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shed new light on how Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus (KSHV) subverts normal cell machinery to cause cancer. A KSHV protein called latency-associated nuclear antigen, LANA for short, helps the virus hide out from the immune system in infected cells.

Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus and an etiological agent for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS). KSHV infection is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa where KS is nowadays the most common malignancy, due to widespread infection with KSHV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Hyperthermia, combined with chemotherapy, improves the chances of healing and survival of patients with low-lying, soft tissue sarcomas.

Soft tissue sarcomas-rare tumours of the connective tissue---should be treated at the few centres which see most cases, in order to give patients the best chance of good outcomes,concludes an analysis of sarcoma management in Florida, published in the Annals of Surgery last month.

Studies of human tumor cells implanted in mice have shown that the abnormal activation of four genes drives the spread of breast cancer to the lungs. The new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers reveal that the aberrant genes work together to promote the growth of primary breast tumors.