Use of PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab in the treatment of advanced pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma: A case report

Abstract

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC), characterized by poor differentiation, aggressive progression, and early metastasis, is a rare type of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), which shows a low response rate to conventional antitumor therapies and has a poor prognosis. With the achievements in gene sequencing, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, several new approaches have recently been explored in PSC treatment. A small case series of PSC patients were found to have programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) overexpression, a prerequisite for PD-1 inhibiting therapy, which made immunotherapy possible. However, anti-PD-1 treatment for PSCs was still at a preliminary stage. Here, we report the successful outcome of tislelizumab monotherapy in a patient with advanced PSC with pleural invasion, thus providing a novel promising approach for PSC patients with PD-L1 overexpression.