Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapies For Sarcoma
Dr. Stephen Lessnick: One of the most important results of understanding the molecular biology of sarcoma is clearly the development of targeted therapeutics. And a beautiful example of understanding this is in the case of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, where there is a particular molecular mechanism that's mutated. And understanding the details of that mutation, first of all identified a new agent, Gleevec, for treating this disease. But now, as we understand more and more about the particular mutations and particular details, it's becoming clear that one can start picking drugs off the shelf based on the underlying molecular biology. So maybe it's Gleevec for a patient who has one particular type of mutation in their tumor, and maybe it's another drug for patients who have a different type of mutation in their tumor.