Medical Student Research Forum Posters

Immunotherapy has been a game changer in cancer treatment; however, there is currently a lack of effective immunotherapies for soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Although the majority of current cancer immunotherapies focus on amplifying the anti-tumor properties of Tcells, natural killer (NK) cells have been shown to be promising targets due to their innate cytotoxic characteristics, their ability to target cells without prior sensitization, and their ability to respond to diverse stimuli. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been shown to predict survival in STS, but the contribution of specific lymphocyte subsets such as NK and memory T cells to STS outcomes is undefined1,2. Archived tumor tissue from 90 STS patients collected from 2008-2020 was evaluated. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed, and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses were performed by an STS pathologist for CD3, CD8, CD45RO, NKp46, TIGIT, and MHC-I. TIL scores of H&E slides were calculated. Metastasis-free survival (MFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. Objectives: To characterize the extent of NK and T cell infiltration in STS and to determine the correlation of these cytotoxic immune cells to patient outcomes.