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| |  Presence of Human Papillomavirus Infection Has No Prognostic Value in Tongue Cancer Patients: Presented at AHNS By Arushi Sinha SAN FRANCISCO -- July 22, 2008 -- The presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection does not appear to have any prognostic effect in patients treated for base-of-tongue (BoT) cancer, according to research presented here at the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer. Investigator Mary Reid, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, presented the findings in a poster session on July 20. According to Dr. Reid, HPV has been shown to be associated with oral and laryngeal carcinomas. Therefore, the research team conducted the study to identify characteristics of patients diagnosed with BoT carcinomas and outcomes in patients with or without HPV infection. The researchers studied patient charts for 87 patients with BoT; the majority of patients comprised Caucasians (93%) and males (87%). The average age of the study cohort was 59 years. Forty-seven percent of the study population were smokers, 29% were former smokers, and 24% had never smoked at the time of diagnosis. In addition, 24% of patients reported heavy alcohol use. Of the group, 98% were diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and 74% had advanced stage IV disease. The researchers identified a smaller subset of 30 patients for whom tissue samples were used to detect the presence of HPV, specifically the HPV 16 strain, using polymerase chain reaction techniques. Twenty of the 30 patients (66%) tested positive for HPV infection. There were similarities among tested and nontested patients with respect to alcohol consumption, race, tumour histology, and age at diagnosis. Of the patients who tested positive for HPV, 35% had never smoked, 30% were former smokers, and 35% were current smokers. The study found that there seemed to be a correlation between those patients who tested positive for HPV and an advanced stage (stage IV) at diagnosis. However, there were no significant differences in vital status or tumour response between the subgroup that was tested for HPV and the larger patient cohort. Overall, the study authors found that there was no difference between HPV-positive and -negative patients. In general, the authors found that the subset of patients tested for HPV was representative of the larger group of BoT patients with respect to demographic characteristics. In addition, the study found that HPV status was not associated with survival outcomes, tumour response, or even cause of death. "This study demonstrated that more HPV testing is needed among BoT patients," concluded Dr. Reid. [Presentation title: The Effect of HPV on Outcome: A Summary of Patients Treated for Base of Tongue Cancer. Abstract P256]
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