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Current Treatment Options for Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors

  • Sarcoma (SH Okuno, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) are aggressive soft tissue sarcomas characterized by high risk of local recurrence and distant metastasis. The only known curative therapy is complete resection. Adjuvant radiation is recommended for larger lesions or those with more aggressive histology. Given the dismal prognosis in tumors that cannot be cured by surgery alone and the lack of systemic therapy with proven benefit, targeted therapies based on knowledge of activation of the Ras pathway and downstream effectors have been trialed in MPNST, thus far without proven benefit. However, novel or combination therapies based on recent preclinical advances are highly desirable and are the subject of ongoing clinical trials.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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Conflict of Interest

Diana Bradford and AeRang Kim declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20010, USA

    Diana Bradford MD & AeRang Kim MD, PhD

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  1. Diana Bradford MD
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  2. AeRang Kim MD, PhD
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Correspondence to AeRang Kim MD, PhD.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Sarcoma

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Bradford, D., Kim, A. Current Treatment Options for Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 16, 12 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-015-0328-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-015-0328-6

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