BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between HPV 16 status and survival outcomes in patients with non-oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma (non-OPSCC).

METHODS

Patients with non-OPSCC diagnosed between 2006 and 2016 were included in this study. The presence of HPV 16 DNA was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier estimates, the Cox proportional hazards model, and propensity score matching (PSM).

RESULTS

Overall, 1,539 patients with adequate specimens were identified, of whom 131 (8.51%) were positive for HPV 16. Compared to HPV 16-negative patients, the adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) for HPV 16-positive non-OPSCC patients were 0.77 and 0.81 for disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS), respectively. Additionally, the larynx was the only subsite in which DSS was significantly improved. After PSM, cohorts consisted of 129 patients in the HPV 16-positive group and 129 in the HPV 16-negative group. HPV 16-positive non-OPSCC patients had favorable survival outcomes, however, these outcomes were not significantly different compared to HPV 16-negative patients. Stratified analysis performed according to primary site showed that only in the larynx was HPV 16-positive status a significant factor for predicting favorable DSS.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that HPV 16-positive non-OPSCC patients did not have significantly better survival outcomes compared to HPV 16-negative patients.