Updates on Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Skin Cancer

An Insight on Skin Cancer About Different Targets With Update on Clinical Trials and Investigational Drugs

Cancer is a diverse disease caused by transcriptional changes involving genetic and epigenetic features that influence a huge variety of genes and proteins. Skin cancer is a potentially fatal disease that affects equally men and women globally and is characterized by many molecular changes. Despite the availability of various improved approaches for detecting and treating skin cancer, it continues to be the leading cause of death throughout society. This review highlights a general overview of skin cancer, with an emphasis on epidemiology, types, risk factors, pathological and targeted facets, biomarkers and molecular markers, immunotherapy, and clinical updates of investigational drugs associated with skin cancer. The skin cancer challenges are acknowledged throughout this study, and the potential application of novel biomarkers of skin cancer formation, progression, metastasis, and prognosis is explored. Although the mechanism of skin carcinogenesis is currently poorly understood, multiple articles have shown that genetic and molecular changes are involved. Furthermore, several skin cancer risk factors are now recognized, allowing for efficient skin cancer prevention. There have been considerable improvements in the field of targeted treatment, and future research into additional targets will expand patients' therapeutic choices. In comparison to earlier articles on the same issue, this review focused on molecular and genetic factors and examined various skin cancer-related factors in depth.

Patient-Derived Human Basal and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tissues Display Apoptosis and Immunomodulation following Gas Plasma Exposure with a Certified Argon Jet

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been subject of increasing interest in the pathophysiology and therapy of cancers in recent years. In skin cancer, ROS are involved in UV-induced tumorigenesis and its targeted treatment via, e.g., photodynamic therapy. Another recent technology for topical ROS generation is cold physical plasma, a partially ionized gas expelling dozens of reactive species onto its treatment target. Gas plasma technology is accredited for its wound-healing abilities in Europe, and current clinical evidence suggests that it may have beneficial effects against actinic keratosis. Since the concept of hormesis dictates that low ROS levels perform signaling functions, while high ROS levels cause damage, we investigated herein the antitumor activity of gas plasma in non-melanoma skin cancer. In vitro, gas plasma exposure diminished the metabolic activity, preferentially in squamous cell carcinoma cell (SCC) lines compared to non-malignant HaCaT cells. In patient-derived basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and SCC samples treated with gas plasma ex vivo, increased apoptosis was found in both cancer types. Moreover, the immunomodulatory actions of gas plasma treatment were found affecting, e.g., the expression of CD86 and the number of regulatory T-cells. The supernatants of these ex vivo cultured tumors were quantitatively screened for cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, identifying CCL5 and GM-CSF, molecules associated with skin cancer metastasis, to be markedly decreased. These findings suggest gas plasma treatment to be an interesting future technology for non-melanoma skin cancer topical therapy.

Developing a novel sensor based on ionic liquid molecularly imprinted polymer/gold nanoparticles/graphene oxide for the selective determination of an anti-cancer drug imiquimod

Despite its useful properties, imiquimod (IMQ), known as an anti-cancer drug, can be harmful to the skin at high concentrations. Therefore, we have developed a novel electrochemical sensor to determine IMQ, for the first time. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was modified by a new composite comprising of ionic liquid-based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and gold nanoparticles/graphene oxide (Au/GO). The MIP/Au/GO nanocomposite was synthesized through non-covalent imprinting process in the presence of IMQ, as template molecule and characterized by SEM and FT-IR. The square wave voltammetry technique (SWV) was applied for IMQ determination in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) at pH 7.0. Several parameters affecting the IMQ quantification were evaluated and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the sensor presented a linear range of 0.02-20.0 μM, a limit of quantification and detection of 0.02 μM and 0.006 μM, respectively. Low RSD values indicate the good repeatability and reproducibility of the modified electrodes in preparation and determination procedures. The satisfactory results indicated that the proposed sensor could be successfully applied for IMQ determination in real samples.