In the past decade, the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors in oncological clinical settings was in the forefront. However, the interest in musculoskeletal tumor patients as candidates for checkpoint inhibition remains underserved. Here, we are forwarding evidence proposing that galectin-3 (Gal-3) is an additional immune factor in the checkpoint processes. This review is the result of a large-scale cohort study depicting that overexpression of Gal-3 was widely prevalent in patients with musculoskeletal tumors, whereas T cell infiltrations were generally suppressed in the tumor microenvironment. Targeting Gal-3 would serve as a novel immune checkpoint inhibitor candidate in patients afflicted with aggressive musculoskeletal tumors.
Keywords: Bone immunological microenvironment; Galectin-3; Immune checkpoint inhibitor; Musculoskeletal tumors.