The Future of Chondrosarcoma Research and Treatment

Chondrosarcomas are the most common cartilaginous malignancies and predominantly affect adults. These tumors display subtype-specific clinical behaviors, with conventional chondrosarcomas having a notably bleak prognosis due to their resistance to available therapies. Recent technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) have captured the genomic complexity of chondrosarcoma biology, including their variations in DNA mutational profiles, epigenetics, and gene expression. While this has dramatically increased the number of candidate therapeutic targets, the precise genetic and epigenetic changes responsible for chondrosarcoma progression and drug resistance remain unknown as their testing has been limited. Systemic chemotherapeutics and recently tested targeted therapies and immunotherapies have failed to show consistent benefit across CS subtypes. Novel therapeutic targets are desperately needed, and future clinical management will likely be informed by an improved understanding of subtype-specific pathways to aid in combination therapy selection. In this chapter, we discuss the future of chondrosarcoma research and summarize ongoing clinical trials evaluating novel approaches to chondrosarcoma treatment.