title: Novel targeted therapies for the treatment of penile cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The treatment of penile cancer has changed over the past decade in that it was primarily a surgically managed disease and those with locally advanced or metastatic disease uniformly had a very poor prognosis. However, with the use of better traditional systemic chemotherapeutic agents in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings, the disease-specific survival and general outlook has improved. However, there is still a large group of patients who will progress even while on systemic therapy. It is in those patients where the application of targeted therapies has been investigated with some experiencing partial or even complete responses. With the improvement seen in patients with chemotherapy refractory disease, the application of novel targeted agents in the neoadjuvant setting may have a resultant positive impact on patient survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review includes research pertaining to targeted therapies, biomarkers and signaling pathways involved with penile cancer. The article was based on a literature search using the keywords 'penile cancer' and 'targeted therapies'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Penile cancer at the advanced stages of the disease has a high mortality. The utilization of novel targeted therapies in these situations is warranted in combination with, or sequentially with, traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy to improve the patient survival rate. Personalized therapy is nearly here for penile cancer and should be made real within the next decade.
authors.affiliation: Moffitt Cancer Center, Department of Genitourinary Oncology , Tampa, FL , USA.
authors.forename: Gautum
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Shilpa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Philippe E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Spiess
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000379:methods; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000379:methods; D010412:Penile Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: biomarkers; human papillomavirus; penile cancer; targeted therapy