Profiling the immune and genomic landscape of anal squamous cell carcinoma and establishing preclinical models to explore new therapeutic options

Abstract

Anal SCC is a rare disease that has increased significantly in both incidence and mortality over the last fourty years. Definitive chemoradiotherapy is the primary modality of treatment, offering a 5-year overall survival rate of 65%. For patients with locally persistent or recurrent disease, salvage surgery is an option with a 5-year overall survival of 50%. However, for those patients with un-resectable locoregional or metastatic disease, there are limited treatment options, and patients face a dismal outcome. Progress in identifying new treatment options for patients with anal cancer has been hampered by a deficiency in understanding the underpinnings of the disease and a lack of appr..