[Study of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence in head and neck carcinomas in a French monocentric cohort of 372 patients]

Abstract

Introduction: French data about HPV role in head and neck carcinomas are sparse, although French patients are mostly heavy smokers. In this series of oropharyngeal et non-oropharyngeal tumors, we aimed to determine what were the clinicopathological features associated with HPV and evaluate survival of patients according to HPV status.

Methods: Three hundred and seventy-two cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas were reviewed and clinicopathological data were detailed. For each case, we performed a HPV PCR and an immunostaining against p16 protein (paraffin embedded tissues).

Results: The series contained 90% of heavy smokers and 36% of tumors were located in oropharynx. HPV DNA was detected in 46% of oropharyngeal carcinomas and 16% of non-oropharyngeal carcinomas. Genotype 16 was the most frequently detected (84%). Clinicopathological features significantly associated with HPV DNA were: oropharyngeal location; absence of tobacco smoking; nodal involvement; poorly-differentiated non-keratinizing histology; positive p16 immunostaining. HPV infection was significantly associated with a longer survival for oropharyngeal carcinomas. It was not the case for non-oropharyngeal carcinomas.

Conclusion: In this French series with lot of heavy smokers, under half of carcinomas are HPV induced. Clinicopathological features and survival data associated with HPV infection are the same as those classically described in literature.

Keywords: Carcinome épidermoïde; Head and neck; Human papillomavirus; Oropharynx; Papillomavirus Humain; Prognosis; Pronostic; Squamous cell carcinoma; Voies aérodigestives supérieures.