Human papillomavirus in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary is a common event and a strong predictor of survival
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP).
METHODS: All patients diagnosed with and treated for CUP between January 1, 2000, and June 1, 2011, at two Danish medical centers were included. All patients received a thorough diagnostic work-up, including FDG-PET, before being diagnosed as CUP. We determined the HPV status in all patients using a combination of HPV DNA PCR and p16 stain. In addition, clinical information on the study patients was retrieved from clinical records.
RESULTS: Of the identified 60 patients with CUP, 13 were shown to be positive for HPV DNA, amounting to 22% of the study population. In addition, we were able to show a clear disease-free and overall-survival benefit in the HPV-positive group, with a hazard ratio of 0.16 (95% CI: 0.038-0.67) for over-all survival. This survival benefit was also apparent when adjusted for advanced age in a multivariate Cox regression analysis.
CONCLUSION: A fairly large percentage of CUP cases are HPV-related, and because this is related to both the location and prognosis, we recommend HPV testing as part of the diagnostic work-up.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e110456 |
Journal | PLOS ONE |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 11 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
Number of pages | 8 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
ID: 129816639