Cure Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma International (iCureASPS)

Published online 2015 Jan 27.

Abstract
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare, heterogeneous tumors of mesenchymal origin. Despite optimal treatment, a large proportion of patients will develop recurrent and metastatic disease. For these patients, current treatment options are quite limited. Significant progress has been made recently in the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of other solid tumors (e.g. prostate cancer, melanoma). There is a strong rationale for immunotherapy in STS, based on an understanding of disease biology. For example, STS frequently have chromosomal translocations which result in unique fusion proteins and specific subtypes have been shown to express cancer testis antigens. In this review, we discuss the current status of immunotherapy in STS, including data from human studies with cancer vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, and immune checkpoint blockade. Further research into STS immunology is needed to help design logical, subtype-specific immunotherapeutic strategies.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4514087/

Potential for immunotherapy in soft tissue sarcoma


Discussion and Conclusions

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Similarly, preclinical research should focus on an understanding of the native immune response and inhibitory mechanisms present in the tumor microenvironment that are unique and specific to each STS subtype. With the differences in disease biology, clinical behavior and response to therapy, it is very likely that the immune response is also distinct between STS subtypes. These immunologic differences, whether obvious or subtle, need to be recognized and appropriately incorporated into the design of immunotherapeutic strategies tailored for each STS subtype. Direct study of tumors, including paraffin embedded and fresh tissue (e.g., from surgical resection) is important in this regard; fortunately, STS are often quite large in size with ample tissue for research.