Abstract:
As our understanding of immune system involvement in skin cancer has increased, so has the development of immunotherapies to target aggressive, un-resectable, or metastatic skin cancers, resulting in significant improvements in survival for previously untreatable patients. However, the high rate of non-responders and the development of resistance to immunotherapy over time highlights the need to improve the efficacy of these treatments. The skin microenvironment is unlike other non-lymphoid organs in so far as lymphocytes constantly traffic to and from the skin and immune surveillance occurs even in the absence of infection. Thus, the immune system plays a critical role in the maintenance of a healthy skin microenvironment, and disruption of immune surveillance mechanisms is thought to contribute to multiple skin neoplasia's, including cancer. Our current Research Topic highlights the complexity of the relationship between the skin, immune system and skin cancer, and underlines the need to characterize the specific molecular mechanisms involved in cell trafficking in a context-specific manner. Here we provide a brief overview of the five review articles and two original research papers that contributed to our recent Research Topic, focusing on general ideas that have emerged and implications for future research in the field.
Editorial: Insights Into Biomarkers, Cytokines, and Chemokines in Skin Cancer
Our current Research Topic highlights the complexity of the relationship between the skin, immune system and skin cancer