Sarcoma

Approximately 8,000 cases of soft-tissue sarcoma are reported annually in the United States.  Half of these patients will ultimately succumb to metastatic or locally advanced disease.  For these patients, available chemotherapy is of little benefit, particularly when weighed against toxicities associated with these treatments [144].  Novel approaches for treatment of sarcomas are required.

Sarcomas are malignant tumors which arise from tissues of mesodermal origin including muscle, bone, and blood.  Sarcomas are richly vascularized.  Unlike carcinomas, which are derived from endodermal and ectodermal tissues and in which blood vessels are generally located in stromal regions of the tumor and not the cortex, sarcomas have a vascular network which is diffusely distributed throughout the tumor [145,146].  The distinct embryonic origins of sarcomas and the distribution of blood vessels within them indicate that sarcomas possess unique vascular properties which may be exploited in their treatment.