Prevalence and prognosis of human papillomavirus in oropharyngeal cancer

Abstract

We analyzed the presence of HPV from 53 patients diagnosed with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. In total 14/53 (26%) were HPV-positive. In 14 HPV-positive patients, 12 patients (86%) were HPV-16-positive, 1 patient was HPV-18-positive, and 1 patient was HPV-58-positive. HPV-positive patients had significantly better disease-specific survival rates than HPV-negative patients. Compared with patients with HPV-negative tumors, patients with HPV-positive tumors had higher response rates after chemoradiation treatment. For patients with HNSCC of the oropharynx, tumor HPV status is strongly associated with chemoradiation response and survival.