HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION AND HEAD AND NECK CANCER PROGRESSION

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of present study was to evaluate the influence of HPV infection on lymphogenic metastasis and survival of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. DNA was isolated from tumor tissue and tumor-adjacent normal epithelium of 64 patients with head and neck tumors of different localization. Detection of 12 HPV genotypes was carried out by the PCR using AmpliSens diagnostic kits (Russia). The association between HPV infection and clinical-pathological parameters of the patients was assessed. HPV was detected in tumor tissue and in the surrounding normal tissue in 22% of patients. The most common HPV genotypes were 16 and 51. No association of HPV infection with sex, age, location, TNM stage and differentiation grade was found. The Kaplan Meier method showed a tendency towards the improvement of the overall and recurrence-free survival of HPV-positive patients with head and neck cancer (p = 0.09 and p = 0.12 respectively). The multivariate survival analysis using Cox’s regression model showed that the patient’s age and the presence of lymph node metastases (p = 0.002) significantly influence on patient survival (p = 0.014 and p = 0.002 respectively).