Adult-type fibrosarcoma is a rare and highly aggressive subtype of soft tissue sarcomas. Due to the existence of other spindle-cell shaped sarcomas, its diagnosis is always one of exclusion. The likelihood of misdiagnoses between similar tumour entities is high, and often leads to inappropriate tumour treatment. We summarize here the main features of fibrosarcoma. When fibrosarcoma is appropriately diagnosed, the patient`s overall prognosis is generally quite poor. Fibrosarcoma is characterized by its low sensitivity towards radio- and chemotherapy as well as by its high rate of tumour recurrences. Thus it is important to identify new methods to improve treatment of this tumour entity. We discuss some promising new directions in fibrosarcoma research, specifically focusing on more effective targeting of the tumour microenvironment. Communication between tumour cells and their surrounding stromal tissue play a crucial role in cancer progression, invasion, metastasis and chemosensitivity. The therapeutic potential of targeting the tumour microenvironment is addressed.

Mesenchymal stem (or stromal) cells (MSCs) are nonhematopoietic progenitor cells that can be obtained from bone marrow and adipose tissue. Due to the ability of MSCs to migrate to damaged and cancerous tissue, this behavior of MSCs has been exploited as a tumor-targeting strategy for cell-based cancer therapy to improve the efficacy and minimize the toxicity of current gene therapy approaches in the treatment of cancers. In this review, we focus on the current developments of MSC-based gene therapy in gastrointestinal cancer studies, in particular, the role of MSCs as tumor-targeted therapy vehicles and the prospects in their clinical application.

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