Advances and Challenges in the Treatment of HPV-Associated Lower Genital Tract Cancers by Immune Checkpoint Blockers: Insights from Basic and Clinical Science
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2025) | Viewed by 1091
Special Issue Editors
Interests: anal cancer; cervical cancer; oncology; infectious disease; epidemiology and surveillance; HIV/AIDS; HPV
Interests: anal cancer; immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment; spatial biology; tumor-biology; multi-omics (genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics); oncoviruses; HIV; HPV
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue endeavors to offer an extensive platform for contemporary insights and future directions regarding immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment for human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated lower genital tract cancers: anal, cervical, vulvar, penile, and vaginal. While ICB has been successful in many solid cancers, its efficacy for HPV-associated cancers has been limited. This is partly due to the mechanisms of HPV-mediated immunosuppression and the complexity of the tumor immune microenvironment in these cancers. This Special Issue aims to gain a thorough comprehension of the intricate interplay between HPV and the immune system and its impact on the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapies. It covers a broad range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms of immune checkpoint proteins within the tumor microenvironment (TME), focusing on the role of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3), T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM3), T cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT), programmed cell death protein-1/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) in HPV-induced carcinogenesis.
- Exploring how the TME influences the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapies, with emphasis on HPV-associated inflamed tumors.
- Providing an overview of current monotherapy and combination therapies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for these HPV-associated cancers.
- Highlighting efforts to establish better prognostic and predictive biomarkers for ICB in HPV-associated cancers. This requires standardizing protocols for assessing checkpoint molecule expression, including antibodies, assays, cut-off thresholds, scoring systems, and criteria for interpreting results.
Prof. Dr. Joel Palefsky
Dr. Sona Chowdhury
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- HPV
- anal cancer
- cervical cancer
- vulvar cancer
- penile cancer
- vaginal cancer
- immunotherapy
- immune check point inhibitors (ICIs)
- PD-L1
- tumor microenvironment
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