Abstract 2374: Squamous cell carcinoma antigen regulates macrophage polarization, contributing to inhibition of T cell activity in cervical cancer chemo-radiotherapy

Chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is the standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer. Anti-tumor T cell response is critical for immunogenic cell death and tumor regression enabled by CRT. Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) is highly expressed in cervical tumors and passively released from tumor cells. Patients with elevated serum SCCA often showed radioresistance and recurrence. Despite its prognostic value, little is known about the function of extracellular SCCA. We analyzed SCCA-associated immune landscape using RNAseq from 20 cervical matched tumor biopsy pairs collected prior to (pre-) and 3 weeks into (mid-) CRT. Patients with low pretreatment SCCA (