An update on treatment of penile cancer

Abstract

Penile cancer is a rare malignancy, particularly in industrialized nations. In the United States, rates are approximately less than 1 per 100,000 men per year with just over 2000 new cases per year. However, there is significantly increased prevalence in developing nations, with limited treatment expertise and reduced access to care, further driving an unmet clinical need. The most noteworthy risk factor for penile cancer is the association with human papillomavirus infection, which may be present in up to 50% of all penile carcinomas. In addition to local primary tumor approaches, multimodality treatment strategies are vital to patients with clinical regional nodal disease, locally advanced disease. Presence and degree of lymph node involvement remains the most important prognostic factor and patients may benefit from multiple treatment strategies. Interim analysis data from the first randomized clinical trial is expected to yield results in mid/late 2024-early 2025. These treatment approaches include neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant therapy, including chemotherapy and radiation. Systemic therapy for distant recurrent or metastatic disease is primarily a platinum-based chemotherapy, however with poor overall response. As poor outcomes remain high, particularly in indigent populations, there remains an unmet need for these patients, particularly for high level randomized trials and novel therapeutics. In this review, we will highlight treatment updates for penile cancer. In addition to standard of care, we will review novel lines of therapies including immunotherapies and targeted therapies as well as sequencing approaches.

Keywords: HPV; immunotherapy; penile cancer; penile squamous cell carcinoma; therapeutics.

Figure 1.

Illustrative diagram of HPV-dependent, HPV-independent carcinogenesis and TME. HPV, human papillomavirus; TME, tumor microenvironment.