Survival of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in association with human papillomavirus and p53 polymorphism (original) (raw)

p53 gene mutations and HPV infection in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinomas do not correlate with overall survival: a long term follow‐up study

Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine, 1997

We analyzed specimens of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) from 110 patients for p53 gene mutations, and 92 of them for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, in order to evaluate the prognostic significance of these factors by comparison with clinical follow‐up data. Mutations within the exons 5 to 8 of the p53 gene were found in 48 tumors (44%). Sequencing revealed in most cases mis‐sense mutations (16/21). Frequency of p53 gene mutations was not related to the tumor stage or the presence of lymph node metastases. Of the 46 tumors that were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. 26 stained positively (56%). The number of positively stained nuclei increased slightly with decreasing differentiation of the tumors, whereas no correlation was found between tumor stage and immunoreactivity. An infection with the high‐risk HPV types 16 and 18 could be detected in 39/92 tumor specimens (42%.). Follow‐up data were obtained from 99 patients within a range of 2 to 112 months. No depen...

Inverse Relationship between Human Papillomavirus16 Infection and Disruptive p53 Gene Mutations in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Clinical Cancer Research, 2008

Purpose: Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC) often harbor p53 mutations, but p53 protein degradation by the viral oncoprotein E6 may supercede p53 mutations in human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16)^positive tumors. The prevalence of p53 mutations in HPV-positive HNSCCs is indeed lower, but in some tumors these alterations coexist. The purpose of this study was to discern whether HNSCCs differ in the type of p53 mutations as a function of HPV16 status. Experimental Design: The study was nested within a prospective multicenter study (ECOGE 4393/RTOG R9614) of patients with HNSCC treated surgically with curative intent. Tumors from one study center were used to construct a tissue microarray. The tumors were well characterized with respect to p53 mutational status. The tissue microarray was evaluated by HPV16 in situ hybridization. HPV16 analysis was also done on a select group of tonsillar carcinomas known to harbor disruptive p53 mutations defined as stop mutations or nonconservative mutations within the DNA binding domain. Results: HPV16 was detected in 12 of 89 (13%) HNSCCs. By tumor site, HPV16 was detected in 12 of 21 (57%) tumors from the palatine/lingual tonsils, but in none of 68 tumors from nontonsillar sites (P < 0.00001). Both HPV16-positive and HPV16-negative HNSCCs harbored p53 mutations (25% versus 52%), but disruptive mutations were only encountered in HPV16-negative carcinomas. Of seven tonsillar carcinomas with disruptive p53 mutations, none were HPV16 positive, in contrast to HPV16-positive tonsillar carcinomas without disruptive p53 mutations (0% versus 57%; P = 0.008). Conclusions: Although HPV16 and mutated p53 may coexist in a subset of HNSCCs, HPV16 and disruptive p53 mutations seem to be nonoverlapping events. A less calamitous genetic profile, including the absence of disruptive p53 mutations, may underlie the emerging clinical profile of HPV16-positive HNSCC such as improved patient outcome.

Association between p53 and Human Papillomavirus in Head and Neck Cancer Survival

Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 2008

Background: High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV-HR) is a significant risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC), abrogating normal p53 function. In addition, HPV and p53 have been associated with prognosis of these tumors but the findings have been inconsistent. We examined p53 expression and HPV-HR individually and jointly for differences in predicting HNC survival. Methods: HNC patients (n = 294) were evaluated for p53 by immunohistochemical staining. HPV was detected by PCR/dot blot hybridization and sequencing. Results: HNC tumors showed 48% with p53 overexpression and 27% with HPV-HR. Multivariate analyses showed that p53 positivity was significantly associated with higher risk of disease-specific [hazard ratio (HR); 2.0; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.1-3.7] and recurrence-free mortality (HR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.4-5.3). HPVÀ cases had significantly worse disease-specific survival (HR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3-6.3) compared with HPV-HR cases. When analyzed jointly, with p53 À /HPV-HR tumors as the reference group, p53 + /HPV À patients had the worst disease-specific (HR, 5.3; 58% versus 15%, P = 0.006) and recurrence-free survival rates (HR, 9.5; 17% versus 89%, P = 0.001), in contrast to the p53 À /HPV À and p53 + /HPV-HR groups, which had less elevated and different risks for disease-specific survival (HR, 2.5 and 1.7, respectively) and recurrence-free survival (HR, 4.2 and 7.2, respectively). Conclusion: Joint assessment of p53/HPV status provides different HRs for each clinical outcome in the four biomarker groups that are distinct from the individual biomarkers. These findings suggest that joint assessment of p53/HPV provides a better indicator of prognosis and potentially different types of treatments.

Human papillomavirus and p53 expression in cancer of unknown primary in the head and neck region in relation to clinical outcome

Cancer medicine, 2014

Patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP) in the head neck region are generally treated with neck dissection followed by radiotherapy at times combined with chemotherapy, a treatment associated with considerable side effects. Some of these tumors may originate as human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), with better clinical outcome than head neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) in general, and could potentially do well with less treatment. Here, we therefore investigated whether HPV status and p53-expression correlated to clinical outcome in patients with CUP in the head neck region. Fifty metastases were analyzed for presence of HPV DNA, and expression of p16(INK4A) and p53 and the data were correlated to clinical outcome. Patients with HPV DNA-positive (HPVDNA+) metastases had significantly better 5-year overall survival (OS) compared to those with HPVDNA- metastases (80.0% vs. 36.7%, respectively; P = 0.004), with a similar tendency for d...

Analysis of human papillomavirus prevalence and TP53 polymorphism in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics, 2004

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is a disease associated with tobacco and alcohol abuse. There is evidence that the oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) may also be a risk for upper aerodigestive tract cancers. High-risk HPVs encode two early proteins, E6 and E7, that can bind to p53 and pRb, respectively, and induce its degradation or inactivation. The TP53 gene has a single polymorphism at codon 72 of exon 4 that encodes either arginine (Arg) or proline (Pro). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of HPV infection and TP53 polymorphism in head and neck cancer. We analyzed 50 tumors, as well swabs of oral mucosa from 142 control individuals, with a polymerase chain reaction technique.

P53 Mutations and Human Papillomavirus Infection in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas: Correlation with Overall Survival

Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 2005

Purpose: The study investigated the pattern of p53 gene mutations and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection concerning their relation to overall survival in patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas of the tongue and floor of the mouth. Patients and methods: The presence of HPV infection in 50 patients, and p53 gene mutations (42 patients from the same group) in the tumour specimens were analysed by polymerase chain reaction and single-stranded conformational polymorphism method. The follow-up period ranged from 12 to 48 (median 29) months. Results: p53 mutations were identified in 11/42 tumours. HPV infection was detected in 32/50 cases, mostly HPV16 (10/32), HPV18 and HPV31 (6/32). A significantly higher incidence of HPV infection was found among smokers (po0.05) and among patients with poor oral hygiene (po0.01). The highest incidence of p53 mutations was detected in tumours of histological grade I and nuclear grade III. Patients with p53 mutation or with HPV infection had significantly shorter overall survival when compared with those that were without p53 mutations (po0.01) or HPV infection (po0.05). HPV-infected patients with p53 mutation had the worst prognosis when compared with patients with HPV infection only (po0.01) or with patients negative for both HPV and p53 (po0.01). Conclusion: The results stress once more the importance of HPV for the prognosis of survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of lower parts of the oral cavity. The presence of p53 mutations in HPVinfected tumours was associated with an even poorer prognosis for the patients. r 2005 European Association for Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery

The Relationship Between Human Papillomavirus Status and Other Molecular Prognostic Markers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 2009

Purpose-To evaluate the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) status and known prognostic makers for head and neck cancers including tumor hypoxia, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and intratumoral T-cell levels and to determine the prognostic impact of these markers by HPV status. Methods and Materials-HPV status in 82 evaluable head and neck squamous cell carcinomas patients was determined by pyrosequencing and related to p16 INK4a staining and treatment outcomes. It was correlated with tumor hypoxia (tumor pO 2 and carbonic anhydrase [CAIX] staining), EGFR status, and intratumoral lymphocyte expression (CD3 staining). Results-Forty-four percent of evaluable tumors had strong HPV signal by pyrosequencing. There was a significant relationship between strong HPV signal and p16 INK4a staining as well as oropharynx location. The strong HPV signal group fared significantly better than others, both in time to progression (TTP, p = 0.008) and overall survival (OS, p = 0.004) for all patients and for the oropharyngeal subset. Positive p16 INK4a staining was associated with better TTP (p = 0.014) and OS (p = 0.00002). There was no relationship between HPV status and tumor pO 2 or CAIX staining. However, HPV status correlated inversely with EGFR reactivity (p = 0.0006) and directly with CD3 (+) T-lymphocyte level (p = 0.03). Whereas CAIX and EGFR overexpression were negative prognostic factors regardless of HPV status, CD3(+) T-cell levels was prognostic only in HPV(−) tumors. Conclusion-HPV status was a prognostic factor for progression and survival. It correlated inversely with EGFR expression and directly with T-cell infiltration. The prognostic effect of CAIX and EGFR expression was not influenced by HPV status, whereas intratumoral T-cell levels was significant only for HPV(−) tumors.

Human papillomavirus, p16 and p53 expression associated with survival of head and neck cancer

Infectious Agents and Cancer, 2010

BACKGROUND: P16 and p53 protein expression, and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV-HR) types have been associated with survival in head and neck cancer (HNC). Evidence suggests that multiple molecular pathways need to be targeted to improve the poor prognosis of HNC. This study examined the individual and joint effects of tumor markers for differences in predicting HNC survival. P16 and p53

Human papillomavirus and p53 mutations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma among Japanese population

Cancer Science, 2014

We aimed to reveal the prevalence and pattern of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and p53 mutations among Japanese head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients in relation to clinicopathological parameters. Human papillomavirus DNA and p53 mutations were examined in 493 HNSCCs and its subset of 283 HNSCCs. Oropharyngeal carcinoma was more frequently HPV-positive than non-oropharyngeal carcinoma (34.4% vs 3.6%, P < 0.001), and HPV16 accounted for 91.1% of HPV-positive tumors. In oropharyngeal carcinoma, which showed an increasing trend of HPV prevalence over time (P < 0.001), HPV infection was inversely correlated with tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, p53 mutations, and a disruptive mutation (P = 0.003, <0.001, <0.001, and <0.001, respectively). The prevalence of p53 mutations differed significantly between virus-unrelated HNSCC and virus-related HNSCC consisting of nasopharyngeal and HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinomas (48.3% vs 7.1%, P < 0.001). Although p53 mutations were associated with tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking, this association disappeared in virus-unrelated HNSCC. A disruptive mutation was never found in virus-related HNSCC, whereas it was independently associated with primary site, such as the oropharynx and hypopharynx (P = 0.01 and 0.03, respectively), in virus-unrelated HNSCC.

Occurrence of p53 gene deletions and human papilloma virus infection in human head and neck cancer

Cancer research, 1992

Little is known regarding the molecular genetic events in head and neck carcinoma. Epidemiological evidence suggests that both alcohol and tobacco use are related to the development of these neoplasms, and viral infections have also been postulated to play a role in some tumors. Loss of p53 tumor suppressor gene function has been found in many malignancies and can occur through either gene mutation or by interaction with the E6 protein of oncogenic human papilloma viruses (HPV). Because the mucosal surfaces of the head and neck are exposed to mutagens and HPVs, we studied DNA derived from 30 stage I-IV squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (9 primary tumors and 21 early passage cell lines) for p53 gene mutations as well as for the presence of oncogenic HPV DNA. Exons 2 through 11 of the p53 gene were examined using single strand conformation polymorphism analysis followed by direct genomic sequencing of all variants. HPV detection was done using polymerase chain reaction amp...