• Michael J Nathenson, Anthony P Conley, and Edward Sausville.
• Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA michaelj_nathenson@dfci.harvard.edu.
• Oncologist. 2018 Jan 1; 23 (1): 71-83.

AbstractSoft tissue and bone sarcomas are a rare and heterogeneous form of cancer. With standard of care treatment options including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, the long-term survival is still low for high-risk soft tissue sarcoma patients. New treatment strategies are needed. Immunotherapy offers a new potential treatment paradigm with great promise. Immunotherapy of soft tissue sarcomas dates back to Dr. Coley's first use of toxins in the late 1800s. A variety of strategies of immunotherapy have been tried in soft tissue and bone sarcomas, including various vaccines and cytokines, with limited success. Results of these early clinical trials with vaccines and cytokines were disappointing, but there are reasons to be optimistic. Recent advances, particularly with the use of adoptive T-cell therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors, have led to a resurgence of this field for all cancer patients. Clinical trials utilizing adoptive T-cell therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors in soft tissue and bone sarcomas are under way. This paper reviews the current state of evidence for the use of immunotherapy, as well as current immunotherapy strategies (vaccines, adopative T-cell therapy, and immune checkpoint blockade), in soft tissue and bone sarcomas. By understanding the tumor microenviroment of sarcomas and how it relates to their immunoresponsiveness, better immunotherapy clinical trials can be designed, hopefully with improved outcomes for soft tissue and bone sarcoma patients.© AlphaMed Press 2017.

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