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Review
. 2023 Mar 7;15(6):1643.
doi: 10.3390/cancers15061643.

Immunotherapy for Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Anti-PD1/PDL1 and Beyond

Mina Fazel  1   2 , Armelle Dufresne  1 , Hélène Vanacker  1   2 , Waisse Waissi  1 , Jean-Yves Blay  1   2 , Mehdi Brahmi  1
Affiliations
Review

Immunotherapy for Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Anti-PD1/PDL1 and Beyond

Mina Fazel et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Sarcomas gather a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal malignant tumors including more than 150 different subtypes. Most of them represent aggressive tumors with poor prognosis at the advanced stage, despite the better molecular characterization of these tumors and the development of molecular-driven therapeutic strategies. During the last decade, immunotherapy has been developed to treat advanced cancers, mainly thanks to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) such as anti-PD1/PDL1 and later to adoptive immune cell therapies. In this review, we aim to summarize the state of the art of immunotherapy in soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Overall, the clinical trials of ICI that included a wide diversity of STS subtypes reported limited efficacy with some outlying responders. Both emerging biomarkers are of interest in selecting good candidates and in the development of combination therapies. Finally, the recent breakthroughs of innovative adoptive therapies in STS seem highly promising.

Keywords: adoptive T-cell therapies; immune checkpoint blockade; immunotherapy; soft tissue sarcomas.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanism of action of the most common ICI.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Composition of a tertiary lymphoid structure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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