The current landscape of early drug development for patients with sarcoma in the immunotherapy era

Abstract

Immunotherapy has changed the treatment paradigm of melanoma and other malignancies. Recently, trials of checkpoint inhibition in sarcomas have been far from outstanding, although specific sarcoma subtypes appear to benefit from these novel therapies. The next steps involve combining immune checkpoint inhibition with classic cancer therapies in order to increase immunogenicity and also potentially complex immunotherapy techniques such as adoptive cell therapy. Currently, numerous clinical trials are exploring different immunotherapies in the sarcomas. Herein, we describe some of the preclinical and clinical data that have laid the groundwork for the use of immunotherapies in sarcomas, as well as the current and future studies that could make immunotherapy a therapeutic option for patients with sarcoma.