Human Papillomavirus in Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Tongue: Clinical Implications
It is not clear if HPV presence in squamous cell carcinomas of the tongue (SCCT) has etiopathogenic and clinical significance. The present study was designed to establish the HPV incidence in SCCT and to determine the implicated genotypes. The influence in clinical parameters that the HR-HPV detection in SCCT may represent was also analyzed.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Clinical and histological data of 64 patients with SCCT diagnosed or treated at the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the Albacete University Complex, from year 2002 to year 2010, were collected. Thirty benign lesions of the tongue were also processed in parallel to compare the HPV incidence and the genotypes of these lesions with those of SCCT. Paraffin blocks of all the cases were collected, and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was carried out using the SPF10 set of primers and the Innolypa genotyping methodology. Clinical data obtained from patients with SCCT were: age, gender, size and location of the lesions, alcohol intake or tobacco smoking habits, regional lymph node involvement, treatment performed, recurrence or second primary tumour appearance, and mortality. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0 software (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).
RESULTS
From the 64 patients, 18 were women and 46 men. Median age was 61,7 years. HPV was detected in 26,2 % of the patients. The results of the hybridization showed that all patients except one, who had an indeterminate genotype, were HR-HPV. HPV 56 was the most common (42,1%) followed by HPV 18 (26,3%), HPV 16 (10,5%), HPV 66 (10,5%), HPV 39 (5,3%) and HPV 51 (5,3%). HPV could be detected in 16,7% of benign lesions of the tongue but none was HR-HPV. Odds ratio (OR) of HR-HPV infection in cases vs. controls was statistically significant (9,45 (CI95% 1,18-75,46) p=0,012). Among the univariant results that correlate the HPV-HR presence with the different clinical parameters analyzed, only mortality showed a statistically significant correlation being higher in HPV-HR patients (OR: 3,97 (CI 95% 1,07-14,7) p=0,032).
CONCLUSIONS
-HPV incidence in SCCT in our study was 26,2%.
- Correlation between HPV-HR detection in SCCT versus controls with benign tongue lesions was observed.
- The most prevalent HPV genotype in SCCT was HPV56, followed by HPV18.
- HPV-HR+ patients had a worse clinical prognosis than HPV-HR- patients.
REFERENCES
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