Ricerc@Sapienza

Treatments for gynecological cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. However, overall survival is not improved, and novel approaches are needed. Immunotherapy has been proven efficacious in various types of cancers and multiple approaches have been recently developed. Since numerous gynecological cancers are associated to human papilloma virus (HPV) infections, therapeutic vaccines, targeting HPV epitopes, have been developed.

DNA is an entity shielded by mechanisms that maintain genomic stability and are essential for living cells; however, DNA is constantly subject to assaults from the environment throughout the cellular life span, making the genome susceptible to mutation and irreparable damage. Cells are prepared to mend such events through cell death as an extrema ratio to solve those threats from a multicellular perspective. However, in cells under various stress conditions, checkpoint mechanisms are activated to allow cells to have enough time to repair the damaged DNA.