De status van het micromilieu van de (schildwacht)klieren en tumor bij patiënten met HPV-positieve en HPV-negatieve kanker van de schaamlippen.

This is an exploratory study to further delineate the microenvironment of the primary tumour and (sentinel) lymph nodes (SLN) in HPV-positive and HPV-negative vulvar cancer. All patients diagnosed with vulvar carcinoma who will undergo a sentinel node procedure or a lymphadenectomy/lymph node debulking will be asked to participate in the study. Patients who will undergo a lymphadenectomy will be asked to participate in detecting the SLNs prior to the lymph node dissection by injecting patent blue in the tumour margins before the (local) excision of the tumour (if applicable) on the operation room. In case only a lymph node dissection/debulking and no local excision of the tumour will be performed, the patient will be asked permission to obtaina small tumour biopsy on the operation room.

This is an exploratory study to further delineate the microenvironment of the PT and (S)LNs in HPV-positive and HPV-negative vulvar cancer.

All interventions will be performed on the same day

Patients who will undergo a lymphadenectomy will be asked to participate in detecting the SLNs prior to the lymph node dissection by injecting patent blue in the tumour margins before the (local) excision of the tumour (if applicable) on the operation room. In case only a lymph node dissection/debulking and no local excision of the tumour will be performed, the patient will be asked permission to perform a small tumour biopsy on the operation room.

Different subsets of the antigen presenting cells and other immune cells in the microenvironment will be measured by the use of multi-color flow cytometry and multi-parameter immunohistochemistry.