The future of immunotherapy for sarcoma.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

The use of immunotherapeutic challenges for sarcoma has a long history. Despite the existence of objective responses, immunotherapy has been overshadowed by the results of chemotherapy, especially for osteosarcoma. However, the prognosis for non-responders to chemotherapy is still poor and immunotherapy is now focused on again.

AREAS COVERED:

We reviewed the following types of clinical trials of immunotherapy for sarcoma: (i) vaccination with autologous tumor cells, (ii) vaccination with peptides derived from tumor-associated antigens, (iii) adoptive cell transfer using engineered T cells expressing T cell receptor directed at NY-ESO-1 and (iv) immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting CTLA-4 and PD1/PDL1.

EXPERT OPINION:

The immunogenicity of sarcoma might be lower than that of melanoma. Patients with small lesions who have not received any chemotherapy are good candidates for peptide-based immunotherapy. Combining peptide vaccination and immune checkpoint inhibitors is an attractive option, and long-lived memory T cells are attracting attention. Memory T stem cells defined by CD95+ are long-lived and have the capacity for self-renewal and multidifferentiation. We also identified a novel memory T cell population, young memory T cells defined by CD73+CXCR3+. Regulation of such memory T stem cells will be useful for peptide vaccination and adoptive cell transfer.

• Authors: Tomohide Tsukahara, Makoto Emori, Kenji Murata, Emi Mizushima, Yuji Shibayama, Terufumi Kubo, Takayuki Kanaseki, Yoshihiko Hirohashi, Toshihiko Yamashita, Noriyuki Sato, Toshihiko Torigoe
• Journal: Expert opinion on biological therapy (Expert Opin Biol Ther) Vol. 16 Issue 8 Pg. 1049-57 (08 2016) ISSN: 1744-7682 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 27158940 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Antigens, Neoplasm
• Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell

Topics

• Animals
• Antigens, Neoplasm (immunology)
• Humans
• Immunotherapy (methods)
• Immunotherapy, Adoptive (methods)
• Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell (metabolism)
• Sarcoma (immunology, therapy)
• T-Lymphocytes (immunology)