**Preface to "Novel Therapeutic Considerations in Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma"**

Sarcomas are a group of rare cancers that arise in connective tissues of the body. These tumours exhibit a wide range of different behaviours and underlying molecular pathologies. The two main types of sarcoma are soft tissue and bone sarcomas, but there are more than 70 different entities within these two categories.

There is a limited medical understanding of this type of rare malignancy. The natural history of these aggressive tumours is characterised by a strong tendency toward local recurrence and metastatic spreading. Despite advances in therapeutic approaches over the last several decades, the outcome for metastatic patients remains poor. Therefore, it is important to identify patients who are at high risk for tumour recurrence and dissemination, which has resulted in an increasing interest in the investigation of prognostic biomarkers that help to guide treatment decisions.

Surgical resection is pivotal for the management of locoregional disease. In locally advanced or metastatic disease settings, systemic therapy has an important role in the multidisciplinary management of sarcoma. Cytotoxic therapy has been the mainstay of treatment for many years. However, recent advances in molecular pathogenesis, the investigation of the tumour microenvironment, changes in clinical trial design, and increased international collaboration have led to the development of histology-driven therapy. Furthermore, genomic profiling has highlighted that, while some sarcomas have complex karyotypes, others are driven by translocation, amplification, and mutation, representing targets for the development of novel therapies. Checkpoint inhibitors have been used as single agents or in combination in clinical sarcoma trials. This progress will move the therapeutic modality in sarcoma patients from the "one-size-fits-all" approach towards a more personalized therapeutic algorithm and better outcomes soon

In this Special Issue, we present original research and review articles highlighting novel therapeutic approaches in the treatment of sarcoma patients.

### **Joanna Szkandera and Dimosthenis Andreou** *Editors*
