The Relationship Between Human Papillomavirus Status and Other Molecular Prognostic Markers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.02.015· OSTI ID:21276837

Kong, Christina S ^[1]; Narasimhan, Balasubramanian ^[2]; Hongbin, Cao ^[3]; Kwok, Shirley ^[1]; Erickson, Julianna P ^[4]; Koong, Albert ^[3]; Pourmand, Nader ^[4]; Le, Quynh-Thu ^[3]

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1. Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
2. Department of Statistics, Stanford University, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
4. Biochemistry-Genome Center, Stanford University, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) status and known prognostic makers for head and neck cancers including tumor hypoxia, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and intratumoral T-cell levels and to determine the prognostic impact of these markers by HPV status. Methods and Materials: HPV status in 82 evaluable head and neck squamous cell carcinomas patients was determined by pyrosequencing and related to p16{sup INK4a} staining and treatment outcomes. It was correlated with tumor hypoxia (tumor pO{sub 2} and carbonic anhydrase [CAIX] staining), EGFR status, and intratumoral lymphocyte expression (CD3 staining). Results: Forty-four percent of evaluable tumors had strong HPV signal by pyrosequencing. There was a significant relationship between strong HPV signal and p16{sup INK4a} staining as well as oropharynx location. The strong HPV signal group fared significantly better than others, both in time to progression (TTP, p = 0.008) and overall survival (OS, p = 0.004) for all patients and for the oropharyngeal subset. Positive p16{sup INK4a} staining was associated with better TTP (p = 0.014) and OS (p = 0.00002). There was no relationship between HPV status and tumor pO{sub 2} or CAIX staining. However, HPV status correlated inversely with EGFR reactivity (p = 0.0006) and directly with CD3(+) T-lymphocyte level (p = 0.03). Whereas CAIX and EGFR overexpression were negative prognostic factors regardless of HPV status, CD3(+) T-cell levels was prognostic only in HPV(-) tumors. Conclusion: HPV status was a prognostic factor for progression and survival. It correlated inversely with EGFR expression and directly with T-cell infiltration. The prognostic effect of CAIX and EGFR expression was not influenced by HPV status, whereas intratumoral T-cell levels was significant only for HPV(-) tumors.

• OSTI ID: 21276837
• Journal Information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Journal Name: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 74; ISSN IOBPD3; ISSN 0360-3016
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ANOXIA
CARBONIC ANHYDRASE
CARCINOMAS
GROWTH FACTORS
HEAD
LYMPHOCYTES
MAN
NECK
PARTIAL PRESSURE
PATIENTS