The Role of Human Papilloma Virus in Penile Cancer Prevention and New Therapeutic Agents.

Penile cancer remains an aggressive disease with poor prognosis in advanced stages. Another specific problem of any rare disease is that the population is not aware of prevention strategies and higher chances for curation by early diagnosis. In penile carcinogenesis, two major pathways are known. Besides a non-human papilloma virus (HPV)-related pathway (mainly caused by phimosis and chronic inflammation), up to 50% of penile carcinomas are HPV-related (HPV high-risk types). Prophylactic HPV vaccination has proven its efficacy against cervical cancer; its B-cell-mediated immunity against HPV capsid proteins provides probably lifelong protection against specific HPV subtypes covered by the vaccine. Therefore, a consequent HPV vaccination program for children of both sexes might dramatically reduce the incidence of not only cervical cancer but also partially prevent penile cancer. However, for the treatment of already existing intracellular HPV infections, an antigen-specific T-cell immunity is necessary. Appropriate therapeutic HPV vaccines are under investigation. This article gives an overview about different levels of prevention of the HPV-related penile cancer.