Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Head Neck. 2013 Nov;35(11):1527-33. doi: 10.1002/hed.23188. Epub 2012 Oct 29.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity (+) has been used to identify oropharyngeal squamous carcinomas (SCCs) presenting as unknown primaries in the neck. p16 overexpression correlates with HPV+ in the oropharynx; however, the use of p16 alone as a surrogate marker of oropharyngeal HPV+ tumors has not been validated.
We immunohistochemically analyzed p16 expression in surgically resected aggressive cutaneous head and neck SCC primaries and their nodal metastases from 24 patients to determine the potential overlap of p16 expression outside of the oropharynx.
Five of 24 primary tumors (20.8%) and 3 lymph node metastases (12.5%) in levels II, III, and V, and the periparotid region diffusely expressed p16. HPV (high-risk types by in situ hybridization) was negative.
p16 expression is relatively common in lymph node-positive cutaneous head and neck SCCs; thus, p16 expression as an independent biomarker and mechanism to determine the oropharyngeal source of an unknown primary is not advised.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）阳性（+）已被用于识别颈部出现未知原发性的口咽鳞状细胞癌（SCC）。p16 的过表达与口咽部的 HPV+相关；然而，单独使用 p16 作为口咽 HPV+肿瘤的替代标志物尚未得到验证。
我们对 24 例手术切除的侵袭性皮肤头颈部 SCC 原发灶及其淋巴结转移灶进行了 p16 表达的免疫组织化学分析，以确定 p16 表达在口咽外的潜在重叠。
24 例原发灶中有 5 例（20.8%）和 3 例淋巴结转移灶（12.5%）在 II、III 和 V 水平以及腮腺周围区域弥漫性表达 p16。HPV（原位杂交检测的高危型）为阴性。
p16 表达在淋巴结阳性的皮肤头颈部 SCC 中相对常见；因此，不建议将 p16 表达作为独立的生物标志物和确定未知原发性的口咽来源的机制。
