Low prevalence of HPV‐induced oral squamous cell carcinoma in Geneva, Switzerland

Abstract

Objective The main objective of this study was to analyze the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in invasive squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity. Materials and Methods A selection was made of 155 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity treated at the University Hospital of Geneva. HPV detection was performed at the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology using a PCR technique followed by in situ hybridization of the viral DNA. Sections were studied for the immunohistochemical expression of P16INK4a. Results The presence of HPV‐DNA was found in 3.3% of the cases (95% CI: 1.3%–7.5%). The only HPV genotype found was HR‐HPV 16. In contrast, 7.7% (95% CI: 1.3%–7.5%) of the cases showed an overexpression of the P16INK4a. We found no significant differences in age, sex, or tobacco and alcohol consumption in relation to the P16INK4a or HPV positivity. Conclusions Human papillomavirus is rarely associated with squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity. Our results suggest that an overexpression of the P16INK4a protein, even in the absence of the virus, is linked to an increase in the survival of the patient.

Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection and the Association with Survival in Saudi Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…As for oral cavity, only 2% were HPV-positive, mainly recorded from the retromolar (2 cases), the tongue, and the buccal cavity (one case each). This low prevalence is in agreement with a recent study by Vidal Loustau et al [30], but again much lower than the worldwide estimate of 23.5% stated above. Overall, these results imply that the prevalence of HPV-driven HNSCC in our population is very low.…”

Total lesion glycolysis in oral squamous cell carcinoma as a biomarker derived from pre-operative FDG PET/CT outperforms established prognostic factors in a newly developed multivariate prediction model

“…In addition, HPV status has no effect on the prognosis of OSCC patients compared to other HNSCC locations. Several authors rate the influence of HPV-triggered carcinogenesis in OSCC as minor [59,60].…”

Infiltrates of M2-Like Tumour-Associated Macrophages Are Adverse Prognostic Factor in Patients with Human Papillomavirus-Negative but Not in Human Papillomavirus-Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Most of the publications in which the intensity of macrophage infiltration within head and neck tumours was analysed concerned locations in the oral cavity [30] or other locations outside the oropharynx [31], where HR-HPV status was unknown. Due to the low frequency of HR-HPV infections in the 2.5-4% range in these anatomical sites, it can be assumed that the results presented in them relate mainly to the HPV-negative population [32][33][34].…”

“…Subsequently, in all the examined cases, the presence and types of HR-HPV DNA in the tumour cells were confirmed using commercially available test, Sacace HPV Genotypes 14 Real-TM (Sacace Biotechnologies Srl, Italy), which is a real-time PCR Kit for quantitative detection and genotyping of HR-HPV (16,18,31,33,35,39,45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 68). The first step of the procedure was to isolate the genomic DNA from all tumour tissue samples by using Mag Core Genomic DNA FFPE One-step Kit and MagCore Nucleic Acids Automatic Extractor HF16-Plus (RBC Bioscience Corp. Taiwan).…”