Nassar AH, El-Am E, Denu R, Abou Alaiwi S, El Zarif T, Macaron W, Abdel-Wahab N, Desai A, Smith C, Parikh K, Abbasi M, Bou Farhat E, Williams JM, Collins JD, Al-Hader A, McKay RR, Malvar C, Sabra M, Zhong C, El Alam R, Chehab O, Lima J, Phan M, Dalla Pria HF, Trevino A, Neilan TG, Kwan JM, Ravi V, Deshpande H, Demetri G, Choueiri TK, and Naqash AR
Background: Primary cardiac soft tissue sarcomas (CSTS) affect young adults, with dismal outcomes., Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with CSTS receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs)., Methods: A retrospective, multi-institutional cohort study was conducted among patients with CSTS between 2015 and 2022. The patients were treated with ICI-based regimens. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Objective response rates were determined according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1. Treatment-related adverse events were graded per the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0., Results: Among 24 patients with CSTS, 17 (70.8%) were White, and 13 (54.2%) were male. Eight patients (33.3%) had angiosarcoma. At the time of ICI treatment, 18 patients (75.0%) had metastatic CSTS, and 4 (16.7%) had locally advanced disease. ICIs were administered as the first-line therapy in 6 patients (25.0%) and as the second-line therapy or beyond in 18 patients (75.0%). For the 18 patients with available response data, objective response rate was 11.1% (n = 2 of 18). The median PFS and median OS in advanced and metastatic CSTS (n = 22) were 5.7 months (95% CI: 2.8-13.3 months) and 14.9 months (95% CI: 5.7-23.7 months), respectively. The median PFS and OS were significantly shorter in patients with cardiac angiosarcomas than in those with nonangiosarcoma CSTS: median PFS was 1.7 vs 11 months, respectively ( P < 0.0001), and median OS was 3.0 vs 24.0 months, respectively ( P = 0.008). Any grade treatment-related adverse events occurred exclusively in the 15 patients with nonangiosarcoma CSTS (n = 7 [46.7%]), of which 6 (40.0%) were grade ≥3., Conclusions: Although ICIs demonstrate modest activity in CSTS, durable benefit was observed in a subset of patients with nonangiosarcoma, albeit with higher toxicity., Competing Interests: Dr Abdel-Wahab is supported by a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (grant K01AI163412) and has received the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Institutional Research Grant, Division of Internal Medicine Development Award, Survivorship Seed Money Award, Prioritizing Research Innovation and Mentoring Excellence Award, and Melanoma SPORE Career Enhancement Program Award. Dr Nassar has received honoraria from OncLive, TEMPUS, and the Korean Society for Medical Oncology; and has received consulting fees from Guidepoint Global. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (© 2024 The Authors.)