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Falasiri, Seyed Shayan A.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8701-5146

A5042160964 | I2613432

Mayo Clinic

University of South Florida

Citations 1

The Immune Microenvironment in Penile Cancer and Rationale for Immunotherapy

Journal of Clinical Medicine | October 17, 2020 | Volume: 9 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 3334

10.3390/jcm9103334 | PMID 33080912

Penile cancer is an extremely rare malignancy that accounts for approximately 1% of cancer deaths in the United States every year. While primary penile cancer can be managed surgically, advanced and metastatic forms of the disease require more aggressive management plans with systemic chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Despite the meaningful response to systemic treatments, the 2-year progression-free survival and disease-specific survival have shown disappointing results. Therefore, there is a crucial need for alternative treatment options with more favorable outcomes and a lower toxicity profile. There are currently extensive studies of tumor molecular biology and clinical trials with targeted molecular therapies, such as PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4. In this review, we will describe the penile cancer microenvironment, and summarize the rationale for immunotherapy in penile cancer patients.