Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Publication Date

1-11-2024

Journal

Cancers

DOI

10.3390/cancers16020303

PMID

38275860

PMCID

PMC10814242

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

1-11-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Penile squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC) is a rare and deadly malignancy. Therapeutic advances have been stifled by a poor understanding of disease biology. Specifically, the immune microenvironment is an underexplored component in PSCC and the activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors observed in a subset of patients suggests immune escape may play an important role in tumorigenesis. Herein, we explored for the first time the immune microenvironment of 57 men with PSCC and how it varies with the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and across tumor stages using multiplex immunofluorescence of key immune cell markers. We observed an increase in the density of immune effector cells in node-negative tumors and a progressive rise in inhibitory immune players such as type 2 macrophages and upregulation of the PD-L1 checkpoint in men with N1 and N2-3 disease. There were no differences in immune cell densities with HPV status.

Keywords

penile squamous cell carcinoma, multiplex immunofluorescence, immune microenvironment

Published Open-Access

yes

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