Developing personalized treatment for advanced penile cancer trough establishment of Patient-Derived Tumor Xenografts (PDTXs).

Penile cancer exhibits an aggressive clinical course marked by early lymphatic and visceral dissemination. However, efficacy of platinum-based regimens is extremely poor and resistance to these therapies develops rapidly. As a reference centre, we have the opportunity to collect sufficient patient samples to do meaningful research in this rare cancer. First, we want to gain a better insight in the molecular and genomic drivers of penile cancer and the distribution of targetable alterations in the genome and transcriptome. To complement this information we will set up a representative library of xenopatients in immunocompromised and immunocompetent mice which will be characterized to investigate whether they carry the same genomic and molecular fingerprints as the donor patients. These models will be employed to investigate the use of personalized targeted-therapy and immunotherapy combinations which may have the potential to improve outcomes and overcome platinum resistance. Tissue samples will be collected for biomarker development.