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Radiologia 2016Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma in children; it can appear in any part of the body. Its biological behavior varies widely, and despite the... (Review)
Review
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma in children; it can appear in any part of the body. Its biological behavior varies widely, and despite the absence of specific clinical or radiological characteristics, rhabdomyosarcoma should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of solid tumors in children. This review focuses primarily on the imaging findings and anatomical distribution of the histological subtypes of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma and secondarily on the differential findings in histological studies.
Topics: Child; Humans; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal
PubMed: 27810092
DOI: 10.1016/j.rx.2016.09.003 -
Nature Reviews. Disease Primers Jan 2019Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children and represents a high-grade neoplasm of skeletal myoblast-like cells. Decades of clinical and... (Review)
Review
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children and represents a high-grade neoplasm of skeletal myoblast-like cells. Decades of clinical and basic research have gradually improved our understanding of the pathophysiology of RMS and helped to optimize clinical care. The two major subtypes of RMS, originally characterized on the basis of light microscopic features, are driven by fundamentally different molecular mechanisms and pose distinct clinical challenges. Curative therapy depends on control of the primary tumour, which can arise at many distinct anatomical sites, as well as controlling disseminated disease that is known or assumed to be present in every case. Sophisticated risk stratification for children with RMS incorporates various clinical, pathological and molecular features, and that information is used to guide the application of multifaceted therapy. Such therapy has historically included cytotoxic chemotherapy as well as surgery, ionizing radiation or both. This Primer describes our current understanding of RMS epidemiology, disease susceptibility factors, disease mechanisms and elements of clinical care, including diagnostics, risk-based care of newly diagnosed and relapsed disease and the prevention and management of late effects in survivors. We also outline potential opportunities to further translate new biological insights into improved clinical outcomes.
Topics: Age Factors; Humans; Mass Screening; Quality of Life; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Risk Factors
PubMed: 30617281
DOI: 10.1038/s41572-018-0051-2 -
Science Translational Medicine Jul 2022Chimeric transcription factors drive lineage-specific oncogenesis but are notoriously difficult to target. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is an aggressive childhood...
Chimeric transcription factors drive lineage-specific oncogenesis but are notoriously difficult to target. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is an aggressive childhood soft tissue sarcoma transformed by the pathognomonic Paired Box 3-Forkhead Box O1 (PAX3-FOXO1) fusion protein, which governs a core regulatory circuitry transcription factor network. Here, we show that the histone lysine demethylase 4B (KDM4B) is a therapeutic vulnerability for PAX3-FOXO1 RMS. Genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of KDM4B substantially delayed tumor growth. Suppression of KDM4 proteins inhibited the expression of core oncogenic transcription factors and caused epigenetic alterations of PAX3-FOXO1-governed superenhancers. Combining KDM4 inhibition with cytotoxic chemotherapy led to tumor regression in preclinical PAX3-FOXO1 RMS subcutaneous xenograft models. In summary, we identified a targetable mechanism required for maintenance of the PAX3-FOXO1-related transcription factor network, which may translate to a therapeutic approach for fusion-positive RMS.
Topics: Carcinogenesis; Cell Line, Tumor; Child; Forkhead Box Protein O1; Forkhead Transcription Factors; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; PAX3 Transcription Factor; Paired Box Transcription Factors; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar
PubMed: 35857643
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abq2096 -
Journal of Clinical Oncology : Official... Sep 2021Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of childhood. Despite aggressive therapy, the 5-year survival rate for patients with metastatic or recurrent...
PURPOSE
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of childhood. Despite aggressive therapy, the 5-year survival rate for patients with metastatic or recurrent disease remains poor, and beyond fusion status, no genomic markers are available for risk stratification. We present an international consortium study designed to determine the incidence of driver mutations and their association with clinical outcome.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Tumor samples collected from patients enrolled on Children's Oncology Group trials (1998-2017) and UK patients enrolled on malignant mesenchymal tumor and RMS2005 (1995-2016) trials were subjected to custom-capture sequencing. Mutations, indels, gene deletions, and amplifications were identified, and survival analysis was performed.
RESULTS
DNA from 641 patients was suitable for analyses. A median of one mutation was found per tumor. In fusion-negative cases, mutation of any RAS pathway member was found in > 50% of cases, and 21% had no putative driver mutation identified. (15%), (15%), and (13%) mutations were found at a higher incidence than previously reported and mutations were associated with worse outcomes in both fusion-negative and fusion-positive cases. Interestingly, mutations in isoforms predominated in infants < 1 year (64% of cases). Mutation of was associated with histologic patterns beyond those previously described, older age, head and neck primary site, and a dismal survival. Finally, we provide a searchable companion database (ClinOmics), containing all genomic variants, and clinical annotation including survival data.
CONCLUSION
This is the largest genomic characterization of clinically annotated rhabdomyosarcoma tumors to date and provides prognostic genetic features that refine risk stratification and will be incorporated into prospective trials.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Biomarkers, Tumor; Child; Child, Preschool; DNA Mutational Analysis; Databases, Genetic; Disease Progression; Female; Gene Amplification; Gene Deletion; Gene Expression Profiling; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genomics; Humans; INDEL Mutation; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Phenotype; Predictive Value of Tests; Progression-Free Survival; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Time Factors; Transcriptome; United Kingdom; United States; Young Adult
PubMed: 34166060
DOI: 10.1200/JCO.20.03060 -
Oncoimmunology 2022Resistance remains an obstacle to anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy in human cancer. One critical resistance mechanism is the lack of T cell chemotaxis...
Resistance remains an obstacle to anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy in human cancer. One critical resistance mechanism is the lack of T cell chemotaxis in the tumor microenvironment (TME). CXCL10-CXCR3 signaling is required for T cell tumor infiltration and tumor immunotherapy. Oncolytic viruses (OVs), including oncolytic adenoviruses (AdVs), induce effective T cell immunity and tumor infiltration. Thus, arming OV with CXCL10 would be an attractive strategy to overcome resistance to anti-PD1 therapy. Here, we successfully constructed a novel recombinant oncolytic adenovirus encoding murine CXCL10, named Adv-CXCL10. Through intratumoural injection, the continuous expression of the functional chemokine CXCL10 in the TME is realized to recruit more CXCR3 T cells into the TME to kill tumor cells, and the recombinant adenovirus shows great power to 'fire up' the TME and enhance the antitumour efficiency of PD-1 antibodies.
Topics: Adenoviridae; Adenoviridae Infections; Animals; Chemokine CXCL10; Chemotaxis; Humans; Mice; Neoplasms; Oncolytic Viruses; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Tumor Microenvironment
PubMed: 36092638
DOI: 10.1080/2162402X.2022.2118210 -
Science Advances Feb 2023Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a group of pediatric cancers with features of developing skeletal muscle. The cellular hierarchy and mechanisms leading to developmental arrest...
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a group of pediatric cancers with features of developing skeletal muscle. The cellular hierarchy and mechanisms leading to developmental arrest remain elusive. Here, we combined single-cell RNA sequencing, mass cytometry, and high-content imaging to resolve intratumoral heterogeneity of patient-derived primary RMS cultures. We show that the aggressive alveolar RMS (aRMS) subtype contains plastic muscle stem-like cells and cycling progenitors that drive tumor growth, and a subpopulation of differentiated cells that lost its proliferative potential and correlates with better outcomes. While chemotherapy eliminates cycling progenitors, it enriches aRMS for muscle stem-like cells. We screened for drugs hijacking aRMS toward clinically favorable subpopulations and identified a combination of RAF and MEK inhibitors that potently induces myogenic differentiation and inhibits tumor growth. Overall, our work provides insights into the developmental states underlying aRMS aggressiveness, chemoresistance, and progression and identifies the RAS pathway as a promising therapeutic target.
Topics: Child; Humans; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Muscle, Skeletal; Cell Differentiation; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Line, Tumor
PubMed: 36753540
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade9238 -
Nature Communications Jul 2022Despite advances in multi-modal treatment approaches, clinical outcomes of patients suffering from PAX3-FOXO1 fusion oncogene-expressing alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS)...
Despite advances in multi-modal treatment approaches, clinical outcomes of patients suffering from PAX3-FOXO1 fusion oncogene-expressing alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) remain dismal. Here we show that PAX3-FOXO1-expressing ARMS cells are sensitive to pharmacological ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related protein (ATR) inhibition. Expression of PAX3-FOXO1 in muscle progenitor cells is not only sufficient to increase sensitivity to ATR inhibition, but PAX3-FOXO1-expressing rhabdomyosarcoma cells also exhibit increased sensitivity to structurally diverse inhibitors of ATR. Mechanistically, ATR inhibition leads to replication stress exacerbation, decreased BRCA1 phosphorylation and reduced homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair pathway activity. Consequently, ATR inhibitor treatment increases sensitivity of ARMS cells to PARP1 inhibition in vitro, and combined treatment with ATR and PARP1 inhibitors induces complete regression of primary patient-derived ARMS xenografts in vivo. Lastly, a genome-wide CRISPR activation screen (CRISPRa) in combination with transcriptional analyses of ATR inhibitor resistant ARMS cells identifies the RAS-MAPK pathway and its targets, the FOS gene family, as inducers of resistance to ATR inhibition. Our findings provide a rationale for upcoming biomarker-driven clinical trials of ATR inhibitors in patients suffering from ARMS.
Topics: Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; Cell Line, Tumor; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; PAX3 Transcription Factor; Paired Box Transcription Factors; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal
PubMed: 35879366
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32023-7 -
Oncogene Mar 2022Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children and phenocopies a muscle precursor that fails to undergo terminal differentiation. The alveolar...
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children and phenocopies a muscle precursor that fails to undergo terminal differentiation. The alveolar subtype (ARMS) has the poorest prognosis and represents the greatest unmet medical need for RMS. Emerging evidence supports the role of epigenetic dysregulation in RMS. Here we show that SMARCA4/BRG1, an ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzyme of the SWI/SNF complex, is prominently expressed in primary tumors from ARMS patients and cell cultures. Our validation studies for a CRISPR screen of 400 epigenetic targets identified SMARCA4 as a unique factor for long-term (but not short-term) tumor cell survival in ARMS. A SMARCA4/SMARCA2 protein degrader (ACBI-1) demonstrated similar long-term tumor cell dependence in vitro and in vivo. These results credential SMARCA4 as a tumor cell dependency factor and a therapeutic target in ARMS.
Topics: Biology; Child; DNA Helicases; Humans; Neoplasms; Nuclear Proteins; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 35094009
DOI: 10.1038/s41388-022-02205-0 -
Seminars in Cancer Biology Jun 2018Driver oncogenes are prime targets for therapy in tumors many of which, including leukemias and sarcomas, express recurrent fusion transcription factors. One specific... (Review)
Review
Driver oncogenes are prime targets for therapy in tumors many of which, including leukemias and sarcomas, express recurrent fusion transcription factors. One specific example for such a cancer type is alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, which is associated in the majority of cases with the fusion protein PAX3-FOXO1. Since fusion transcription factors are challenging targets for development of small molecule inhibitors, indirect inhibitory strategies for this type of oncogenes represent a more promising approach. One can envision strategies at different molecular levels including upstream modifiers and activators, epigenetic and transcriptional co-regulators, and downstream effector targets. In this review, we will discuss the current knowledge regarding potential therapeutic targets that might contribute to indirect interference with PAX3-FOXO1 activity in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma at the different molecular levels and extrapolate these findings to fusion transcription factors in general.
Topics: Forkhead Box Protein O1; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; PAX3 Transcription Factor; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 29146205
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2017.11.006