It’s not clear what causes Ewing sarcoma. Doctors know that Ewing sarcoma begins when a cell develops changes in its DNA. A cell’s DNA contains the instructions that tell a cell what to do. The changes tell the cell to multiply quickly and to go on living when healthy cells would normally die. The result is a mass (tumor) of abnormal cells that can invade and destroy healthy body tissue. The abnormal cells can break away and spread (metastasize) throughout the body.
In Ewing sarcoma, the DNA changes most often affect a gene called EWSR1. If your doctor suspects that you have Ewing sarcoma, your cancer cells may be tested to look for changes in this gene.
Risk factors
Risk factors for Ewing sarcoma include:
- Lifestyle-related risk factors such as body weight, physical activity, diet, and tobacco and alcohol use play a major role in many adult cancers. But these factors usually take many years to influence cancer risk, and they are not thought to play much of a role in cancers that tend to affect children and teens, including Ewing tumors (Ewing sarcomas).
- Your age. Ewing sarcoma can occur at any age, but it is more likely to occur in children and teenagers.
- Gender. Ewing tumors are slightly more common in males than in females.
- Your ancestry. Ewing sarcoma is more common in people of European ancestry. It’s much less common in people of African and East Asian ancestry.
Complications
Complications of Ewing sarcoma and its treatment include:
- Cancer that spreads (metastasizes). Ewing sarcoma can spread from where it started to other areas, making treatment and recovery more difficult. Ewing sarcoma most often spreads to the lungs and to other bones.
- Long-term treatment side effects. The aggressive treatments needed to control Ewing sarcoma can cause substantial side effects, both in the short and long term. Your health care team can help you manage the side effects that happen during treatment and provide you with a list of side effects to watch for in the years after treatment.