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Review
. 2021 Aug 2;13(15):3895.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13153895.

Present and Future Research on Anal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Laurie Spehner  1   2 , Jihane Boustani  3 , Luc Cabel  4 , Jérôme Doyen  5 , Angélique Vienot  1   2   6 , Christophe Borg  1   2   6 , Stefano Kim  1   2   6   7
Affiliations
Review

Present and Future Research on Anal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Laurie Spehner et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma of the anus is an orphan disease, and after more than three decades of no substantial advances in disease knowledge and treatment, it is finally gaining momentum with the arrival of a taxane-based chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Currently, about 20 combination clinical trials with an anti-PD1/L1 are ongoing in localized and advanced stages, in association with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, tumor vaccines, anti-CTLA4, anti-EGFR, or antiangiogenic molecules. Moreover, a new biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity such as HPV circulating tumor DNA (HPV ctDNA) by liquid biopsy, is improving not only the prognostic measurement but also the treatment strategy guidance for this disease. Finally, better understanding of potential targets is reshaping the present and future clinical research in this unique, HPV genotype-16-related disease in the great majority of patients.

Keywords: anal carcinoma; biomarkers; chemotherapy; immunotherapy; research; trials.

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Conflict of interest statement

S.K.: principal investigator for Epitopes-HPV01, Epitopes-HPV02, SCARCE, INTERACT-ION, and SPARTANA studies, and national French coordinator for POD1UM-303 study. C.B.: principal investigator for VolaTIL study. L.C.: investigator for Circa-HPV study. Other authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Involvement of COX2/PGE2 pathway in the regulation and differentiation of MDSC. The tumor microenvironment promotes the production of COX2 promoting the synthesis of PGE2. EP4 receptor expressed on MDSC can bind PGE2 and induced arginase-1 (Arg1) production. Arg1 accelerates l-arginine consumption, resulting in suppression of T-cell proliferation. Abbreviations: Arg1, arginase; BM, bone marrow; and PGH2, prostaglandin H2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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