Rhabdomyosarcoma: Current Therapy, Challenges, and Future Approaches to Treatment Strategies

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202309.0846.v1
• Publication Date: 2023-09-14T00:43:56Z
• Authors: Ali Zarrabi; David Perrin; Mahboubeh Kavoosi; Micah Sommer; Serap Sezen; Parvaneh Mehrbod; Bhavya Bhushan; Filip Machaj; Jakub Rosik; Philip Kawalec; Saba Afifi; Seyed Mohammadrez...; Peyman Koleini; Mohsen Taheri; Tayyebeh Madrakian; Marek Jan Łos; Benjamin Lindsey; Nilufer Cakir; Atefeh Zarepour; Kiavash Hushmandi; Ali Fallah; Bahattin Koc; Mazaher Ahmadi; Susan E. Logue; Gorka Orive; Stevan Pecic; Joseph W. Gordon; Saeid Ghavami

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare cancer arising in skeletal muscle that typically impacts children and young adults. It is a worldwide challenge in child health as treatment outcomes for metastatic and recurrent disease still pose a major concern for both basic and clinical scientists. The treatment strategies for rhabdomyosarcoma include multi-agent chemotherapies after surgical resection with or without ionization radiotherapy. In this comprehensive review, we first provide a detailed clinical understanding of rhabdomyosarcoma including its classification and subtypes, diagnosis, and treatment strategies. Later we focus on chemotherapy strategies for this childhood sarcoma and discuss the impact of three mechanisms that are involved in chemotherapy response including apoptosis, macro-autophagy, and the unfolded protein response. Finally, we discuss in vivo mouse and zebrafish models, and in vitro 3-dimensional bioengineering models of Rhabdomyosarcoma to screen future therapeutic approaches and promote muscle regeneration.