WNT/β-Catenin Pathway in Soft Tissue Sarcomas: New Therapeutic Opportunities?

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a very heterogeneous group of rare tumors, comprising more than 50 different histological subtypes that originate from mesenchymal tissue. Despite their heterogeneity, chemotherapy based on doxorubicin (DXR) has been in use for forty years now and remains the standard...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Esther Martinez-Font, Marina Pérez-Capó, Oliver Vögler, Javier Martín-Broto, Regina Alemany, Antònia Obrador-Hevia
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/a45dc9a8d91e4650bb49e2236ccc4c4f
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a very heterogeneous group of rare tumors, comprising more than 50 different histological subtypes that originate from mesenchymal tissue. Despite their heterogeneity, chemotherapy based on doxorubicin (DXR) has been in use for forty years now and remains the standard first-line treatment for locally advanced unresectable or metastatic STS, although overall survival could not be improved by combination with other chemotherapeutics. In this sense, the development of new therapeutic approaches continues to be a largely unmatched goal. The WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway is involved in various fundamental processes for embryogenic development, including the proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Although the role of this pathway has been widely researched in neoplasms of epithelial origin, little is known about its relevance for mesenchymal neoplasms. This review covers the most important molecular alterations of the WNT signaling pathway in STS. The detection of these alterations and the understanding of their functional consequences for those pathways controlling sarcomagenesis development and progression are crucial to broaden the current knowledge about STS as well as to identify novel drug targets. In this regard, the current therapeutic options and drug candidates to modulate WNT signaling, which are usually classified by their interaction site upstream or downstream of β-catenin, and their presumable clinical impact on STS are also discussed.