Is immunotherapy in the future of therapeutic management of sarcomas?
Ottavia Clemente, Alessandro Ottaiano, Giuseppe Di Lorenzo, Alessandra Bracigliano, Sabrina Lamia, L. Cannella, Antonio Pizzolorusso, Massimiliano Di Marzo, Mariachiara Santorsola, Annarosaria De Chiara, Flavio Fazioli, Salvatore Tafuto
Abstract
Sarcomas are rare, ubiquitous and heterogeneous tumors usually treated with surgery, chemotherapy, target therapy, and radiotherapy. However, 25-50% of patients experience local relapses and/or distant metastases after chemotherapy with an overall survival about 12-18 months. Recently, immuno-therapy has revolutionized the cancer treatments with initial indications for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma (immune-checkpoint inhibitors).Here, we provide a narrative review on the topic as well as a critical description of the currently available trials on immunotherapy treatments in patients with sarcoma. Given the promising results obtained with anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibodies (pembrolizumab and nivolumab) and CAR-T cells, we strongly believe that these new immunotherapeutic approaches, along with an innovative characterization of tumor genetics, will provide an exciting opportunity to ameliorate the therapeutic management of sarcomas.