Jonathan C. Trent, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Health System, discusses T-cell therapies in sarcoma.
Many types of sarcomas have translocations and point mutations that lead to novel antigens that can be specifically recognized by an engineered T cell, says Trent.
There are also several types of sarcoma, such as synovial sarcoma and liposarcoma that express testicular antigens—such as NY-ESO-1—that are not expressed in any other cell in the human body. These neoantigens can be targets of modified T-cells, such as the T-cells that are now being engineered by a number of different companies to bind to and kill NY-ESO-1 in synovial sarcoma and liposarcoma cells.
Clinical trials are available investigating these agents.