The clinical outcomes of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS): A single-centre experience of two decades with the assessment of PD-L1 expressions

Abstract

Introduction: Little is known about undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) because of the low incidence and heterogeneous diagnosis of sarcoma. We investigated the oncologic outcomes of patients with UPS in a real-practice setting in association with adjuvant treatments and assessment of PD-L1 expression.

Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients who were diagnosed with UPS in Asan Medical Center between January 1995 and December 2016. PD-L1 staining was performed using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour tissue by immunohistochemistry, and positive PD-L1 expression was defined as staining in ≥1% of tumour cells. The PD-L1 H-score, which was calculated for statistical analysis as intensity (0-3) multiplied by proportion (0-100), ranged from 0 to 300.

Results: Of 205 patients included in our analysis, 176 underwent a curative-intent operation for localised disease. The five-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate of resected UPS patients was 54.3%. Administration of adjuvant therapy did not overcome the poor prognostic factors such as primary tumour size (>5 cm) and locations, especially the abdomen and pelvis. The PD-L1 analysis was available for 114 patients, and 83 (72.8%) showed immunoreactivity for PD-L1 with weak (44/83), intermediate (29/83), and strong (10/83) staining intensities. The positive PD-L1 expression seemed to be associated with prolonged DFS, though no statistical significance was observed.

Conclusion: Complete surgical resection was the most important UPS treatment strategy, and adjuvant radio- or chemotherapy was insufficient to improve survival. Our results raise the possibility that immunotherapy could be a breakthrough in the treatment of UPS patients.

Keywords: Adjuvant treatment; PD-L1 expression; Prognosis; Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma.