NECTIN4 underexpression

Bioinformatics analysis revealed that alteration in Nectin-4 and MMR genes is associated with Nectin-4 expression in EC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that Nectin-4 expression may be a potential biomarker for EC diagnosis and that high Nectin-4 expression in MMR-deficient patients with EC can predict short progression-free survival, thus providing clues to identify patients for adjuvant therapy.

A recent article shows that NECTIN-4 membranous expression changes with progression to metastatic disease and that low NECTIN-4 expression is potentially associated with EV resistance. These data argue for incorporation of NECTIN-4 expression into future biomarker strategies.

In this study, we evaluated the expression of Nectin-4, a cell surface protein, in tumors from patients with nonmetastatic penile squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC). To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe elevated expression of Nectin-4 in PSCC, which may suggest its utility as a therapeutic target.

However, the high expression of Nectin-4 in SCC and ADENO might guide future treatment with novel Nectin-4-directed ADCs and provide this high-risk patient collective with a new promising therapeutic option. Testing Nectin-4 expression as a biomarker should be considered in trials with SARCO, where low Nectin-4 expression has been observed.

Our results indicate that Nectin4 is a novel diagnostic marker for EC, and their high expression in MSH2 deficient EC predicts a worse outcome of disease-free survival. These results may provide clues in identifying EC patients for adjuvant therapy.