Dr. Roland on the Rationale to Examine Neoadjuvant Checkpoint Blockade in Sarcoma

Christina L. Roland, MD, MS, FACS, chief of Sarcoma Surgery and an assistant professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology in the Division of Surgery, as well as the associate medical director of the Sarcoma Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the rationale of a phase 2 study (NCT03307616) evaluating neoadjuvant checkpoint blockade in patients with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) and dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS).

A couple of years ago at ASCO and throughout the last few years, immunotherapy in sarcoma has started to gain some traction, says Roland. The SARC028 study data presented at the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program showed that there were relatively good responses with immunotherapy in UPS and DDLPS. These results inspired the transition of this phase 2 study into the neoadjuvant space because, in theory, patients have less disease burden and potentially more curable disease, Roland adds.

Modeling the phase 2 study after a melanoma study that was ongoing at that time, this study was designed into 2 cohorts in order to look at pathologic response as a surrogate outcome for survival. This is a signal finding study to see if there was any rationale for immunotherapy in this patient population. It seems that there is benefit in the UPS cohort, concludes Roland.