Advances in Personalized Medicine Enhance Treatment Strategies for Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Recent research highlights the potential of personalized medicine approaches to improve treatment outcomes for patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS), a rare and heterogeneous group of tumors. Published in March 2025 in npj Precision Oncology, the study was conducted by scientists from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore, in collaboration with the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and biotech company KYAN Technologies.

Soft tissue sarcomas account for less than 1% of all cancers worldwide but pose significant treatment challenges due to their biological diversity and rarity. Traditional chemotherapy often provides limited and unpredictable results, underscoring the need for innovative treatment strategies.

The research team employed the Quadratic Phenotypic Optimization Platform (QPOP), a data-driven phenotypic screening tool, to match patients with the most effective drug combinations based on their tumor characteristics. The study analyzed tumor samples from 45 primary STS patients, establishing the largest ex vivo drug testing cohort for this purpose. The results demonstrated that over 70% of responses to standard treatments were accurately predicted by QPOP, confirming its reliability.

Additionally, the platform helped identify unconventional personalized drug combinations for patients unresponsive to standard therapies. These tailored treatments led to notable clinical responses in two cases, showcasing the promise of functional precision medicine for resistant or complex tumors.

A notable breakthrough was the discovery of an effective drug combo involving AZD5153, a BRD4 inhibitor, and pazopanib, a multi-kinase inhibitor. Laboratory and in vivo models confirmed that this combination outperformed standard treatments across multiple sarcoma subtypes by effectively suppressing MYC and other critical pathways.

Led by Assistant Professor Valerie Yang from NCCS and A*STAR IMCB, along with co-authors from NUS, the study emphasizes the transformative potential of ex vivo drug testing in rare cancers. Asst Prof Yang highlighted that this approach not only predicts individual responses but also guides personalized treatment, potentially offering better disease control for patients with exhausted options.

While promising, further clinical trials are necessary to validate these findings and evaluate broader applications. The research team plans to initiate a prospective clinical trial in Singapore to further explore the utility of QPOP in treating soft tissue sarcomas and possibly other cancers.

This innovative work paves the way for a new era of personalized cancer therapy where treatments are tailored uniquely to each tumor's biology, offering renewed hope for patients affected by challenging cancers.