Abstract
BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are often divided by their aetiology. Noxae associated collectives are compared with the human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated group, whereas different localisations of oral (OSCC) and oropharyngeal (OPSCC) squamous cell carcinomas are mostly discussed as one single group. Our aim was to show that classification by aetiology is not appropriate for OSCC.ResultsHPV DNA was detected by PCR in 7 (3.47%) patients, and we identified 12 (5.94%) positive (+) cases by p16INK4a immunostaining. Only 4 (1.98%) of the p16INK4a+ cases were + for HPV using PCR. Our homogenous collective of OSCC allowed us to compare HPV+ and HPV negative (−) patients without creating bias for tumour localisation, age, gender or tumour stage.Materials and methodsAfter testing OSCC samples for HPV positivity, we compared the results of two commonly used HPV detection methods, p16INK4a immunostaining and HPV DNA-related PCR, on 202 OSCC patients. HPV subtypes were determined with an HPV LCD Array Kit. Clinicopathological features of the patients were analysed, and the disease specific survival rates (DSS) for HPV+ and HPV− patients were obtained.Conclusionsp16INK4a immunostaining is a not a reliable HPV detection method for OSCC. Positive p16INK4a immunostaining did not agree with + results from PCR of HPV DNA. Furthermore, the influence of HPV-related oncogenic transformation in OSCC is overestimated. The significance of HPV infection remains clinically unclear, and its influence on survival rates is not relevant to OSCC cases.
Highlights
Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are one of the most common cancers in the world and are ranked sixth for men and eleventh for women in cancer frequency [1]
There is an ongoing discussion about the impact of an human papilloma virus (HPV) infection on the prognosis and therapy regimes for HNSCC
This study demonstrated that HPV infection only occurs in a relatively small number of OSCC cases
Summary
Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are one of the most common cancers in the world and are ranked sixth for men and eleventh for women in cancer frequency [1]. Significant surgical efforts, including tumour site reconstruction using free microvascular flap techniques and excellent tumour patient aftercare, have improved the long-term quality of life in tumour patients [2] Despite these advances, disease-specific survival rates (DSS) are still low for OSCC. TNM and UICC stages are generally still used to describe the size of the tumour and its invasion into the lymphatic system from a topographic point of view, recently, these systems were shown to be poor www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget at accurately predicting an outcome [4, 5] The latter classifications of OSCC are used for outcome prediction and decision-making concerning additional radiotherapy in cases of positive nodal metastasis [6]. Our aim was to show that classification by aetiology is not appropriate for OSCC
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