%0 Journal Article
%T HPV Associated Head and Neck Cancer
%A Fei-Fei Liu
%A Jeff Bruce
%A Kenneth W. Yip
%A Tara Spence
%J Archive of "Cancers".
%D 2016
%R 10.3390/cancers8080075
%X Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are a highly heterogeneous group of tumours that are associated with diverse clinical outcomes. Recent evidence has demonstrated that human papillomavirus (HPV) is involved in up to 25% of HNCs; particularly in the oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC) subtype where it can account for up to 60% of such cases. HPVs are double-stranded DNA viruses that infect epithelial cells; numerous HPV subtypes, including 16, 18, 31, 33, and 35, drive epithelial cell transformation and tumourigenesis. HPV positive (HPV+) HNC represents a distinct molecular and clinical entity from HPV negative (HPV£¿) disease; the biological basis for which remains to be fully elucidated. HPV positivity is strongly correlated with a significantly superior outcome; indicating that such tumours should have a distinct management approach. This review focuses on the recent scientific and clinical investigation of HPV+ HNC. In particular, we discuss the importance of molecular and clinical evidence for defining the role of HPV in HNC, and the clinical impact of HPV status as a biomarker for HNC
%K biomarker
%K head and neck cancer
%K head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
%K human papillomavirus
%K (HPV+)
%K HPV negative (HPV£¿)
%K microRNA
%K oropharyngeal carcinoma
%K prognosis
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999784/