Journal article
Novel Therapeutics and the Path Toward Effective Immunotherapy in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors
Cancers, Vol.17(14), 2410
07/21/2025
DOI: 10.3390/cancers17142410
PMCID: PMC12294001
PMID: 40723291
Abstract
Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors (MPNSTs) are a deadly subtype of soft tissue sarcoma for which effective therapeutic options are lacking. Currently, the best treatment for MPNSTs is complete surgical resection with wide negative margins, but this is often complicated by the tumor size and location and/or the presence of metastases. Radiation or chemotherapy may be combined with surgery, but patient responses are poor. Targeted treatments, including small-molecule inhibitors of oncogenic proteins such as mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6), and Src-homology 2 domain-containing phosphatase 2 (SHP2), are promising therapeutics for MPNSTs, especially when combined together, but they have yet to gain approval. Immunotherapeutic approaches have been revolutionary for the treatment of some other cancers, but their utility as single agents in sarcoma is limited and not approved for MPNSTs. The immunosuppressive niche of MPNSTs is thought to confer inherent treatment resistance, particularly to immunotherapies. Remodeling an inherently “cold” tumor microenvironment into a “hot” immune milieu to bolster the anti-tumor activity of immunotherapies is of great interest throughout the cancer community. This review focuses on novel therapeutics that target dysregulated factors and pathways in MPNSTs, as well as different types of immunotherapies currently under investigation for this disease. We also consider how certain therapeutics may be combined to remodel the MPNST immune microenvironment and thereby generate a durable anti-tumor immune response to immunotherapy.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Novel Therapeutics and the Path Toward Effective Immunotherapy in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors
- Creators
- Joshua J. Lingo - University of IowaElizabeth C. Elias - University of IowaDawn E. Quelle - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Cancers, Vol.17(14), 2410
- DOI
- 10.3390/cancers17142410
- PMID
- 40723291
- PMCID
- PMC12294001
- NLM abbreviation
- Cancers (Basel)
- ISSN
- 2072-6694
- eISSN
- 2072-6694
- Publisher
- MDPI
- Grant note
- National Institutes of Health
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, including F31 CA281312 (J.J.L.), T34 GM141143 (E.C.E.), and R01 NS119322 (D.E.Q.).
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/21/2025
- Academic Unit
- Pathology; Neuroscience and Pharmacology
- Record Identifier
- 9984865438502771
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