Dept. of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Medical Unit Head, Neck, Lung, and Skin Cancer, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Dept. of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Oral Oncol. 2024 Apr;151:106749. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2024.106749. Epub 2024 Mar 10.
Patients with human papillomavirus DNA positive (HPVDNA) and p16 overexpressing (p16) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), especially those with cancer in the tonsillar and base of tongue subsites as compared to other OPSCC subsites have a better outcome than those with only HPVDNA or only p16 cancer. Likewise having a high viral load has been suggested to be a positive prognostic factor. We therefore hypothesized, that HPV viral load could vary depending on OPSCC subsite, as well as with regard to whether the cancer was HPVDNA and p16, or only HPVDNA, or only p16 and that this affected outcome.
To address these issues HPV viral load was determined by HPV digital droplet (dd) PCR in tumor biopsies with previously known HPVDNA/p16 status from 270 OPSCC patients diagnosed 2000-2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. More specifically, of these patients 235 had HPVDNA/p16, 10 had HPVDNA/p16, 13 had HPVDNA/p16 and 12 had HPVDNA/p16 cancer.
We found that HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC had a significantly higher viral load than HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC. Moreover, there was a tendency for a higher viral load in the tonsillar and base of tongue OPSCC subsites compared to the other subsites and for a low viral load to correlate to a better clinical outcome but none of these tendencies reached statistical significance.
To conclude, the mean viral load in HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC was higher than in HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC, but there was no statistically significant difference in viral load depending on OPSCC subsite or on clinical outcome.
与其他口咽鳞状细胞癌（OPSCC）亚部位相比，HPV DNA 阳性（HPVDNA）和 p16 过表达（p16）的人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）阳性或口咽鳞状细胞癌（OPSCC）患者，尤其是那些在扁桃体和舌根部位的癌症患者，其预后要好于仅具有 HPVDNA 或仅具有 p16 的癌症患者。同样，高病毒载量被认为是一个积极的预后因素。因此，我们假设 HPV 病毒载量可能会因 OPSCC 亚部位、癌症是否同时具有 HPVDNA 和 p16 或仅具有 HPVDNA 或仅具有 p16 而有所不同，并且这会影响到结果。
为了解决这些问题，我们通过 HPV 数字液滴（dd）PCR 检测了 270 例来自瑞典斯德哥尔摩的 OPSCC 患者的肿瘤活检组织中的 HPV 病毒载量，这些患者在 2000 年至 2016 年间被诊断出患有 OPSCC，并且之前已经知道了他们的 HPVDNA/p16 状态。具体来说，这些患者中有 235 例同时具有 HPVDNA 和 p16、10 例仅具有 HPVDNA、13 例仅具有 p16、12 例仅具有 HPVDNA。
我们发现，同时具有 HPVDNA 和 p16 的 OPSCC 患者的病毒载量明显高于仅具有 HPVDNA 和 p16 的 OPSCC 患者。此外，在扁桃体和舌根 OPSCC 亚部位中存在更高病毒载量的趋势，而在其他亚部位中则存在较低病毒载量的趋势，并且低病毒载量与更好的临床结果相关，但这些趋势均没有达到统计学意义。
总之，在同时具有 HPVDNA 和 p16 的 OPSCC 中，病毒载量高于仅具有 HPVDNA 和 p16 的 OPSCC，但病毒载量在 OPSCC 亚部位或临床结果方面没有统计学上的显著差异。
