Sarcoma Tissue Samples

Bay Biosciences provides high quality, clinical grade, formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) sarcoma tissue samples for research, with matched K2EDTA plasma, sera (serum) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), bio-fluid samples.

The sarcoma tissue samples for cancer research and the matched K2EDTA plasma, sera (serum) and PBMC bio-fluid specimens are processed from patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

Sarcoma Overview

Sarcoma is a form of cancer. Moreover, there are different types of sarcoma, including soft tissue sarcoma and bone sarcoma. Symptoms can depend on the type; however, they may include pain and a lump.

In particular, soft tissue sarcomas affect tissues connecting, supporting, or surrounding any of the body’s systems.

On the other hand, bone sarcoma, or osteosarcoma, is a type of bone cancer. Often, another type of cancer will spread to the bones in the later stages. In bone sarcoma, cancer, in fact, starts in the bone.

Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Furthermore, soft tissue sarcomas can appear in fat, muscle, blood vessels, deep skin tissues, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

Notably, sarcoma is rare in adults. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), it accounts for around 1% of all adult cancers. Conversely, it is more common in children, accounting for around 15% of all childhood cancers.

Additionally, the ASCO also states that around 60% of sarcomas start in an arm or leg, while 30% begin in the abdomen or torso, and finally, 10% start in the neck or head.

Lastly, the National Cancer Institute predicts that doctors in the United States will diagnose around 12,750 cases of soft tissue sarcoma in 2019, and they predict that 5,270 people will die from a sarcoma.

Moreover, there are different types of sarcoma, including soft tissue sarcoma and bone sarcoma. Symptoms can depend on the type; however, they may include pain and a lump.

In particular, soft tissue sarcomas affect tissues connecting, supporting, or surrounding any of the body’s systems.

On the other hand, bone sarcoma, or osteosarcoma, is a type of bone cancer. Often, another type of cancer will spread to the bones in the later stages. In bone sarcoma, cancer, in fact, starts in the bone.

Furthermore, soft tissue sarcomas can appear in fat, muscle, blood vessels, deep skin tissues, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

Less Common in Adults

Notably, sarcoma is rare in adults. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), it accounts for around 1% of all adult cancers. Conversely, it is more common in children, accounting for around 15% of all childhood cancers.

Additionally, the ASCO also states that around 60% of sarcomas start in an arm or leg, while 30% begin in the abdomen or torso, and finally, 10% start in the neck or head.

Lastly, the National Cancer Institute predicts that doctors in the United States will diagnose around 12,750 cases of soft tissue sarcoma in 2019, and they predict that 5,270 people will die from a sarcoma.

Pediatric Sarcoma

Lumps and bumps are common in childhood, but when they form in soft tissue without an obvious cause, they could be pediatric soft tissue sarcoma (STS).

In children, cancer that forms in the soft connective and supportive tissues of the body is known as pediatric STS. Although relatively rare, it is a type of cancer that accounts for up to 7% of all childhood tumors.

With more than 50 subtypes of STS, a diagnosis can come with a wide variety of presentations, treatments, and outcomes.

Symptoms of Sarcoma

The symptoms will vary depending on the type of sarcoma and where in the body it develops:

Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Firstly, for soft tissue sarcoma, people with soft tissue sarcomas often have no symptoms in the early stages.

However, when symptoms appear, a person may notice:

For example, a tumor: In some cases, there may be a noticeable lump or swelling. This is usually painless.

Additionally, pain: If the tumor affects local tissues, nerves, or muscles, pain may be present in the area.

Moreover, specific symptoms may reflect the particular type of sarcoma.

For instance, tumors in the gastrointestinal system may bleed, so symptoms may include blood in the stool or stools with a black, tarry appearance.

Bone Sarcoma

On the other hand, in the case of bone sarcoma, the first sign may be pain, with or without a lump. It often affects the long bones in the arm or leg or the pelvis.

Furthermore, if it affects the pelvis, signs and symptoms may not appear until a later stage.

Types of Sarcoma

There are more than 50 types of sarcoma. They include the following types.

Soft tissue sarcoma

Types of soft tissue sarcoma depend on the specific tissue or location it affects.

They include the following:

Angiosarcoma: This type affects the blood or lymph vessels.

Fibrosarcomas: These affect fibroblasts, which are cells in the connective tissue.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor: This affects specialized neuromuscular cells of the gut.

Liposarcoma: This is a sarcoma of fat tissue. These often start in the thigh, behind the knee, or at the back of the abdomen.

Leiomyosarcoma: This affects smooth muscle in organ walls, often in the abdomen.

Myxofibrosarcoma: This affects the connective tissue and often develops in the arms and legs of older adults.

Mesenchymomas: These are rare and combine elements of other sarcomas. They can occur in any part of the body.

Neurofibrosarcoma: This type affects the protective lining of the nerves.

Rhabdomyosarcoma: This forms in skeletal muscle.

Synovial sarcoma: This may be a tumor of the stem cells. Cancerous tissue can develop around the joints.

Schwannoma: This affects the tissues that cover the nerves.

Kaposi’s sarcoma: This type mainly affects the skin but can occur in other tissues. It results from the human herpesvirus 8.

Vascular sarcoma: This type occurs in the blood vessels.

Sarcoma of the Bone

Types of sarcoma of the bone include:

Osteosarcoma: This type of sarcoma can affect the bone.

Ewing sarcoma: This can occur in the bone or soft tissue.

Chondrosarcoma: This starts in the cartilage.

Fibrosarcoma: This occurs in fibrogenic tissue, which is a type of connective tissue.

Causes of Sarcoma

In many cases, doctors do not know what causes sarcoma. They tend to occur sporadically, with little or no family history.

However, researchers have identified some possible risk factors:

Firstly, high doses of radiation: Having undergone previous radiation therapy for cancer increases the risk of developing a soft tissue sarcoma later on.

Secondly, genetic conditions: Genetic factors may play a role. Specifically, people with syndromes such as neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis appear to have a higher risk of sarcoma.

Additionally, exposure to chemicals: Exposure to vinyl chloride, dioxins, and phenoxyacetic herbicides may increase the risk, but more evidence is needed to confirm this.

Finally, Human herpesvirus 8: Kaposi’s sarcoma is the only type of soft tissue sarcoma with a clearly defined cause.

Diagnosis of Sarcoma

A person should see their doctor if they notice a lump that is more than 2 inches across, if the lump is getting bigger, or if the person is experiencing pain.

The doctor will:

  • Ask the individual about their symptoms
  • Conduct a medical examination
  • Ask about their personal and family medical history
  • Suggest imaging scans, such as an X-ray, MRI, CT scan, or PET scan
  • Run laboratory tests

However, if the person has previously undergone treatment to remove a tumor, the presence of a new growth may indicate that it has returned.

Prevention of Sarcoma

Unlike other types of cancer, lifestyle factors do not seem to play a role in the onset of sarcoma.

Although adopting a healthful lifestyle is a good idea for reducing the risk of many conditions, there does not seem to be a specific link with sarcoma.

It is not usually possible to prevent sarcoma, as doctors do not yet know what causes it.

Treatment of Sarcoma

A doctor may recommend one or more of the following treatment options for bone or soft tissue sarcoma:

Surgery: This is the most common treatment for sarcoma. It aims to remove the tumor and some of the normal surrounding tissue. The surgeon will usually take a tissue sample to carry out a biopsy at the same time. This can confirm the exact type of tumor.

Radiation therapy: A person may have this before or after surgery to destroy cancer cells.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy appears to be more effective in treating bone sarcoma than soft tissue sarcoma. Chemotherapy can kill cancer cells that remain after surgery.

In the case of soft tissue sarcoma, a doctor may prescribe olaratumab (Lartruvo) for those whose sarcoma has not responded to other treatments.

People with advanced soft tissue sarcoma who have already undergone chemotherapy may benefit from pazopanib (Votrient).

The choice and intensity of treatment depend on the stage and grade of cancer, the size of the tumor, and the extent of any spread.

Outlook

The outlook for a person with sarcoma will depend on factors such as the type, grade, and location. Health authorities use statistics to work out approximately how many people with cancer will survive for 5 years or more after a diagnosis.

For soft tissue sarcoma, the chance of surviving at least 5 more years after diagnosis is:

  • 81% if the sarcoma is localized, meaning that it has not spread
  • 58% if it is regional, meaning that it has spread to nearby tissues
  • 16% if it is distant, meaning that it has reached other organs in the body

For bone sarcoma, the average 5-year survival rates are:

  • 77% for localized cancer
  • 65% for regional cancer
  • 27% for distant cancer

It is worth noting that:

  • Many people live for longer than 5 years after diagnosis.
  • Thanks to new medical discoveries, these percentages continue to improve.
  • Individual factors, such as age and overall health, will impact the chance of survival for each person.

As with other types of cancer, the outlook is better if a person receives a diagnosis and begins treatment in the early stages.

biospecimens

Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Human biospecimens are available including cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors for controls, available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human biofluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as  human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.