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Sarcoma (tissue type)

aka sarcomas, soft-tissue sarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, bone sarcoma, connective tissue cancer, mesenchymal

Cancer of the body's connective and supporting tissues: bone, muscle, fat, cartilage, blood vessels, fibrous tissue. Rare (about 1% of adult cancers) but relatively common in children.

Sarcomas come from mesenchymal cells rather than the epithelial lining cells that give rise to carcinomas, and there are more than seventy subtypes, many defined by a specific gene fusion (EWSR1-FLI1 in Ewing sarcoma, SS18-SSX in synovial sarcoma) or by a single driver (KIT in GIST). They are treated in specialist centres by surgery and radiotherapy, with chemotherapy for the more aggressive types; GIST was one of the first solid tumours transformed by a targeted drug (imatinib), and fusion-defined sarcomas are natural candidates for precision approaches. Because they are rare and diverse, sarcomas depend heavily on referral networks, registries and international trials.

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Biology basics

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