bims-myxlip 2023-01-29 papers

Issue of 2023‒01‒29
two papers selected by
Laura Mannarino
Humanitas Research

Front Oncol. 2022 ;12 1069963

Exploring the landscape of immunotherapy approaches in sarcomas.

Pampina Pilavaki, Myrofora Panagi, Samia Arifi, Robin L Jones, Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos, Anastasia Constantinidou.

Sarcomas comprise a heterogenous group of malignancies, of more than 100 different entities, arising from mesenchymal tissue, and accounting for 1% of adult malignancies. Surgery, radiotherapy and systemic therapy constitute the therapeutic armamentarium against sarcomas, with surgical excision and conventional chemotherapy, remaining the mainstay of treatment for local and advanced disease, respectively. The prognosis for patients with metastatic disease is dismal and novel therapeutic approaches are urgently required to improve survival outcomes. Immunotherapy, is a rapidly evolving field in oncology, which has been successfully applied in multiple cancers to date. Immunomodulating antibodies, adoptive cellular therapy, cancer vaccines, and cytokines have been tested in patients with different types of sarcomas through clinical trials, pilot studies, retrospective and prospective studies. The results of these studies regarding the efficacy of different types of immunotherapies in sarcomas are conflicting, and the application of immunotherapy in daily clinical practice remains limited. Additional clinical studies are ongoing in an effort to delineate the role of immunotherapy in patients with specific sarcoma subtypes.

Keywords: bone sarcoma; checkpoint inhibitors; immunotherapy; sarcoma; soft tissue sarcoma; undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma UPS

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.1069963

Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 23. 13(1): 1290

Macrophage numbers in the marginal area of sarcomas predict clinical prognosis.

Michinobu Umakoshi, Akiko Nakamura, Hiroyuki Tsuchie, Zhuo Li, Yukitsugu Kudo-Asabe, Ken Miyabe, Yukinobu Ito, Makoto Yoshida, Hiroyuki Nagasawa, Kyoji Okada, Hiroshi Nanjo, Daichi Maeda, Naohisa Miyakoshi, Masamitsu Tanaka, Akiteru Goto.

Even when treated comprehensively by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, soft-tissue sarcoma has an unfavorable outcome. Because soft-tissue sarcoma is rare, it is the subject of fewer clinicopathological studies, which are important for clarifying pathophysiology. Here, we examined tumor-associated macrophages in the intratumoral and marginal areas of sarcomas to increase our knowledge about the pathophysiology. Seventy-five sarcoma specimens (not limited to a single histological type), resected at our institution, were collected, and the number of CD68-, CD163-, and CD204-positive macrophages in the intratumoral and marginal areas was counted. We then performed statistical analysis to examine links between macrophage numbers, clinical factors, and outcomes. A high number of macrophages positive for all markers in both areas was associated with worse disease-free survival (DFS). Next, we divided cases according to the FNCLCC classification (Grade 1 and Grades 2/3). In the Grade 1 group, there was no significant association between macrophage number and DFS. However, in the Grade 2/3 group, high numbers of CD163- and CD204-positive macrophages in the marginal area were associated with poor DFS. By contrast, there was no significant difference between the groups with respect to high or low numbers of CD68-, CD163-, or CD204-positive macrophages in the intratumoral area. Multivariate analysis identified the number of CD163- and CD204-positive macrophages in the marginal area as an independent prognostic factor. Macrophage numbers in the marginal area of soft-tissue sarcoma may better reflect clinical behavior.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28024-1