Relevance and Limitations in the Expression of Immunotherapy IHC Markers in Penile Cancer (HPV Male Vaccine). An Outcome in Evolution

Abstract

Introduction: Penile cancer is not common in developed countries, although it is common in some Latin American countries. It is related to cervical cancer, it has two independent cancer pathways, according to its link or not, with HPV. Therefore, it is relevant to promote vaccination in young men. Given the clinical / oncological management has new treatment proposals based on immunotherapy (IT), which favors preservation of the organ, the pathology reports must be increasingly strict in terms of classification, Immunohistochemical (IHC) markers, and therapeutic strategies. Objectives: To assess the perspective on the use of established HPV and IT IHC markers to establish the relevance of their use; determine the specificity and sensitivity of the markers through IHC. Materials and methods: 27 samples of penile cancer were evaluated, from patients from Paraguay, who underwent HPV IHC and IT to establish their relevance with 16 markers. Results: The IHQ markers: MCM2, MDM2 and HSP-27 were very significant in the cancer / HPV ratio; PDL-1, CD4, CD8 and B7H3 were relevant for IT. According to our results, we recommend the HSP-27 and the B7H3 as markers. Conclusion: The management of samples and histopathological typing should be performed by experienced pathologists in the pathogenesis, classification and therapeutic of penile cancer. It remains to unveil its real practical use, the degree of participation of agents and or cofactors, the local and systemic immune response, new drugs and vaccine efficacy. We suggest expanding the number of cases to confirm these results.