Expression and prognostic significance of PDGF ligands and receptors across soft tissue sarcomas

Background While the anti-PDGFRA antibody olaratumab failed to confirm an impact on survival in unselected advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients, the level of expression and the prognosis of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptors and ligands in STS remain unclear. Patients and methods We analyzed PDGF ligands and receptors' expression levels in a series of 255 patients with different histologies of STS [gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), myxoid liposarcoma (MLPS), sarcoma with complex genomics, synovial sarcoma (SyS)] with Agilent single-color micro-arrays. We explored expression levels as prognostic values in univariate and multivariate analysis using R software (version 3.4.2). Results Complex patterns of correlation of expression between ligands and receptors were observed for each histotype. PDGFA levels were highest in SyS and lowest in MLPS (P Conclusions The expression of PDGF ligands and receptors varies across sarcoma histological subtypes. PDGFA and D expression levels independently and inversely correlate with the risk of metastatic relapse.