Although a subset of sarcomas appears inflamed and responsive to immune checkpoint blockade with programmed death 1 (PD-1) targeted agents, novel immunotherapies and combinations likely will be needed for most subtypes.
In this manuscript we review current strategies for targeting the PD-1 pathway, highlighting putative biomarkers and the rationale for investigation of these drugs to treat common pediatric tumors such as sarcoma, neuroblastoma, and high-grade glioma.
A model adjusted for STS histologic subtype found that for all sarcomas, T-cell infiltration and clonality were highly correlated with PD-1 and PD-L1 expression levels (P≤.01).