Immunotherapy for liposarcoma: emerging opportunities and challenges

Plain language summary Liposarcoma is a rare type of malignant tumor with no effective treatment. Immunotherapy is a new kind of treatment that functions by activating the immune system to kill tumors cells. It has gained significant progress in other cancer types. This review discusses its exploration and application in liposarcoma. Liposarcoma (LPS) is a rare adipocyte-derived malignancy accounting for 20% of all soft tissue sarcomas. Although surgery and chemotherapy are the standard treatment for LPS, the large tumor burden and high recurrence rate make it difficult to treat, especially when the disease progresses. With the progress of immunotherapies in other tumors such as melanoma and lung cancer, interest has been risen in exploring immunotherapy for LPS. This review discusses the understanding of the tumor microenvironment of LPS; the current status of immunotherapy in LPS, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell therapy, cancer vaccines, oncolytic viruses and combination therapies; and the future directions for exploiting strategies to make the effect of immunotherapy stronger and more durable.