MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1645019
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring immune low-response states through single-cell technologies and spatial transcriptomicsView all 14 articles
HPV infection and the Immune Microenvironment in Cervical Cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Scientific Research, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, China, Shenyang, China
- 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, China, Shenyang, China
- 3Department of Microorganism Laboratory, Shenyang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenyang 110024, China, Shenyang, China
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Cervical cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women, particularly in low-resource settings, despite advances in treatment modalities. The tumor immune microenvironment (TME) plays a pivotal role in cervical cancer pathogenesis, progression, and therapeutic response, driven largely by persistent HPV infection and subsequent immune evasion mechanisms. Clinical evidence supports the efficacy of pembrolizumab in PD-L1-positive recurrent/metastatic disease, while combinatorial strategies show promise in overcoming resistance. However, challenges persist, including biomarker identification and management of immune-related adverse events. This review elucidates the dynamic interplay between HPV-mediated immune suppression and the TME, highlighting the roles of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), regulatory T cells (Tregs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), and exhausted lymphocyte subsets in fostering an immunosuppressive milieu. Overall, this review integrates current advances in tumor immunology and immunotherapy, providing a comprehensive framework for developing precision-based strategies to improve outcomes in cervical cancer.
Keywords: cervical cancer, immune microenvironment, Human papillomavirus, Immune pathway, immune checkpoint inhibitors, Immunotherapy
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Deng, Liu and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yibo Li, Department of Scientific Research, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang 110024, China, Shenyang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.