%0 Journal Article
%T Does HPV type affect outcome in oropharyngeal cancer?
%A Anthony C Nichols
%A Sandeep S Dhaliwal
%A David A Palma
%A John Basmaji
%A Corina Chapeskie
%A Samuel Dowthwaite
%A Jason H Franklin
%A Kevin Fung
%A Keith Kwan
%A Brett Wehrli
%A Chris Howlett
%A Iram Siddiqui
%A Marina I Salvadori
%A Eric Winquist
%A Scott Ernst
%A Sara Kuruvilla
%A Nancy Read
%A Varagur Venkatesan
%A Biljana Todorovic
%A J Alex Hammond
%A James Koropatnick
%A Joe S Mymryk
%A John Yoo
%A John W Barrett
%J Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1916-0216-42-9
%X A retrospective search identified ninety-five patients diagnosed with OPSCC. Pre-treatment biopsy specimens were tested for p16 expression using immunohistochemistry and for HPV-16, HPV-18 and other high-risk subtypes, including 31,33,35,39,45,51,52,56,58,59,67,68, by real-time qPCR.Fifty-nine tumours (62%) were positive for p16 expression and fifty (53%) were positive for known high-risk HPV types. Of the latter, 45 tumors (90%) were identified as HPV-16 positive, and five tumors (10%) were positive for other high-risk HPV types (HPV-18 (2), HPV-67 (2), HPV-33 (1)). HPV status by qPCR and p16 expression were extremely tightly correlated (p£¿<£¿0.001, Fishers exact test). Patients with HPV-positive tumors had improved 3-year overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared to patients with HPV-negative tumors (90% vs 65%, p£¿=£¿0.001; and 85% vs 49%, p£¿=£¿0.005; respectively). HPV-16 related OPSCC presented with cervical metastases more frequently than other high-risk HPV types (p£¿=£¿0.005) and poorer disease-free survival was observed, although this was not statistically significant.HPV-16 infection is responsible for a significant proportion of OPSCC in Southwestern Ontario. Other high-risk subtypes are responsible for a smaller subset of OPSCC that present less frequently with cervical metastases and may have a different prognosis.The incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is generally decreasing [1,2], likely due to declining rates of smoking and alcohol use. An exception to this trend has been cancers affecting the oropharynx, which have increased by more than two-fold in some countries over the last three decades [3,4]. Infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated as the cause of this dramatic rise in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC), particularly those affecting the palatine and lingual tonsils [3]. Importantly, numerous studies have reported improved survival for patients with HPV-positive tumors [3,5,6]. Of the severa
%K Human papillomavirus
%K Oropharyngeal cancer
%K Epidemiology
%U http://www.journalotohns.com/content/42/1/9