Durable clinical activity of single-agent bevacizumab in a nonagenarian patient with metastatic alveolar soft part sarcoma

Anticancer Drugs. 2012 Aug;23(7):745-8. doi: 10.1097/CAD.0b013e3283514b8c.

Abstract

Alveolar soft part sarcoma is a rare malignancy usually considered resistant to conventional chemotherapy, but recent data suggest that the multikinase inhibitors sunitinib and cediranib could be active in this setting. A 90-year-old lady with alveolar soft part sarcoma of the leg and lung metastases was started on sunitinib 37.5 mg daily. The treatment was poorly tolerated with grade 3 hypertension and grade 3 thrombocytopenia, which persisted after dose reduction to 25 mg daily. The patient was subsequently started on bevacizumab 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks, resulting in a marked improvement in pain and a partial response on lung metastases for 16 months and ongoing. Agents targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor-signalling pathway seem to exert clinically relevant and prolonged activity against alveolar soft part sarcoma and deserve further evaluation in the treatment of this rare soft tissue sarcoma.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use*
  • Bevacizumab
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Leg / pathology
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging
  • Lung Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Radiography
  • Sarcoma, Alveolar Soft Part / drug therapy*
  • Soft Tissue Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Bevacizumab