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ORPHA:398058

Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis

high confidenceDisorder

Also known as: Penile squamous cell carcinoma

Publications

2,231

94th percentile

Trials

29

Interventional, condition-specific

Researchers

1,272

Distinct authors in sample

Gene link

—

Readiness

2/6

Stages with a signal

Clinical definition (Orphanet)

A rare urogenital tumor characterized by origin from squamous epithelial cells of the penis, most commonly the glans or inner surface of the prepuce. Macroscopically, the tumors can appear either papillary or flat and ulcerating. Histological subtypes include usual squamous cell carcinoma as the most common type, as well as basaloid, warty, verrucous, papillary, and mixed carcinomas. Patients may initially be asymptomatic but present with itching, bleeding, discharge, foul odor, and pain, as the disease progresses. Regional lymph node involvement is common, while distant metastases occur only late in the disease. Risk factors include HPV infection, smoking, poor hygiene, and HIV infection. circumcision is implicated as strongly protective.

How rare: 1-9 / 1 000 000 — roughly one to nine people per million. In a city the size of Kolkata, perhaps a few dozen.

Orphanet entry

Cross-references

Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.

Additional Mondo synonyms (13)

epidermoid carcinoma of penis · epidermoid carcinoma of the penis · epidermoid cell carcinoma of penis · epidermoid cell carcinoma of the penis · penile epidermoid carcinoma · penile epidermoid cell carcinoma · penile squamous car.(epidermoid) · penile squamous carcinoma (epidermoid) · penile squamous cell cancer · penile squamous cell carcinoma · penis squamous cell carcinoma · squamous cell carcinoma of penis · squamous cell carcinoma of the penis

Research stages

Trial readiness signals

Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”

2/6 stages with a signal

An interventional trial matched this condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov — see trials below.

  1. Gene identifiedNot found

    No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build

  2. LiteraturePresent

    2,231 matched papers (1,262 in last 10 years) Source

  3. Phenotype characterisedNot checked

    Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO

  4. Animal modelNot checked

    Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance

  5. Orphan designationNot checked

    FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet

  6. Interventional trialPresent

    29 matched on ClinicalTrials.gov (10 recruiting in sample)

Biology

Genes and phenotypes

Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.

Do we know what causes it?

Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.

No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.

Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)

Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.

Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)

Not enriched in this build.

Literature

Is anyone studying this?

2,231

2,231 papers have been published on this condition. That is a real research literature — still far smaller than common diseases (breast cancer: over 700,000 papers). Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.

2,231 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).

1,262 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 94th percentile (publications denominator)

Phrase hits: 2,231 · MeSH hits: 0

Open Europe PMC search

Who's working on it?

1,272

Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.

Who's working on it?

People publishing on this condition (sampled Europe PMC records). Affiliation is the most recent found in that sample.

  1. 01
    Spiess PE18 papers · 2026

    Department of Genitourinary Oncology at Moffit Cancer Center, Tampa, FL.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  2. 02
    Chahoud J14 papers · 2026

    Genitourinary Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, 12902 Magnolia Dr, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA. Jad.chahoud@moffitt.org.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  3. 03
    Cubilla AL11 papers · 2026

    Instituto de Patología e Investigación, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Asunción, Paraguay. Electronic address: antoniocubillaramos@gmail.com.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  4. 04
    Chaux A8 papers · 2026

    Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Norte, Asuncion, Paraguay.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  5. 05
    Li X8 papers · 2026

    Department of Medical Oncology, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  6. 06
    Muneer A8 papers · 2026

    Department of Urology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  7. 07
    Pettaway CA7 papers · 2026

    Department of Urology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Electronic address: cpettawa@mdanderson.org.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  8. 08
    Wang Y7 papers · 2026

    Department of Urology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, China; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou 510060, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  9. 09
    Yao K7 papers · 2026

    Department of Urology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, China; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou 510060, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China. Electronic address: yaokai@sysucc.org.cn.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  10. 10
    Briganti A6 papers · 2026

    Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy; Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, URI, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.

    Papers in Europe PMC

Clinical research

Is a treatment being tested?

29

interventional trials for this specific condition

29 interventional trials matched this specific condition name; 10 currently recruiting in our sample. 2,527 trials are registered for squamous cell carcinoma, the broader category — shown separately because they may or may not enrol this specific subtype.

Data as of 27 July 2026

29 interventional trials — more than 73% of diseases in the trials denominator have none at all (5114 of 7003; this disease is at the 95.6th percentile).

high confidence · 95.6th percentile (trials denominator)

Recruiting interventional trials

From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set

29 interventional trials matched after quoted-phrase search and title/condition post-filter.

Broader category: squamous cell carcinoma

2,527

Interventional trials for the parent category, exclusive of NCT IDs already counted above. Eligibility for this subtype is not guaranteed.

Worth raising with a clinician. How we count trials.

Recruiting under the broader category

Observational and natural-history studies

4 observational studies match this condition. These do not test a treatment and are not counted in the interventional-trial headline, but they are genuine research: natural-history work often defines the endpoints needed for a future rare-disease trial, and families may be able to enroll.

Recruiting or not-yet-recruiting

Open the complete matched search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Where to find support

We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:

India — NPRD

Last verified 2026-07-26

This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.

Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.

How we counted this

Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.

"Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis" OR "Squamous cell carcinoma of penis" OR "Penile squamous cell carcinoma" OR "epidermoid carcinoma of penis" OR "epidermoid carcinoma of the penis" OR "epidermoid cell carcinoma of penis" OR "epidermoid cell carcinoma of the penis" OR "penile epidermoid carcinoma" OR "penile epidermoid cell carcinoma" OR "penile squamous car.(epidermoid)" OR "penile squamous carcinoma (epidermoid)" OR "penile squamous cell cancer" OR "penis squamous cell carcinoma"

Run this search on Europe PMC

ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):

"Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis" OR "Squamous cell carcinoma of penis" OR "Penile squamous cell carcinoma" OR "epidermoid carcinoma of penis" OR "epidermoid carcinoma of the penis" OR "epidermoid cell carcinoma of penis" OR "epidermoid cell carcinoma of the penis" OR "penile epidermoid carcinoma" OR "penile epidermoid cell carcinoma" OR "penile squamous car.(epidermoid)" OR "penile squamous carcinoma (epidermoid)" OR "penile squamous cell cancer" OR "penis squamous cell carcinoma"

Interventional trials matched via: phrase (mesh = registered under a MeSH descriptor no name phrase would catch; recall-expansion = gene / selected parent terms used only for trials).

Study-type breakdown: 29 interventional · 4 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.

Parent-category trials query:

"squamous cell carcinoma"

Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase

Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Confidence reasoning

  • Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
  • No synonyms dropped by stoplist
  • No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus

Ingested 2026-07-27T15:16:47.982Z