Positive Rate of Human Papillomavirus and Its Trend in Head and Neck Cancer in South Korea

Hyun Woong Jun; Yong Bae Ji; Chang Myeon Song; Jae Kyung Myung; Hae Jin Park; Kyung Tae

doi:10.3389/fsurg.2021.833048

Positive Rate of Human Papillomavirus and Its Trend in Head and Neck Cancer in South Korea

Front Surg. 2022 Jan 21:8:833048. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2021.833048. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Hyun Woong Jun¹, Yong Bae Ji¹, Chang Myeon Song¹, Jae Kyung Myung², Hae Jin Park³, Kyung Tae¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Department of Radiation Oncology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the positive rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its trend in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in South Korea and to evaluate the clinical differences between HPV-positive and -negative tumors.

Methods: We studied 300 patients with HNSCC arising in the oropharynx (n = 77), oral cavity (n = 65), larynx (n = 106), hypopharynx (n = 40), and sinonasal cavity (n = 12), treated in a tertiary university hospital in South Korea from January 2008 to July 2020. HPV status was determined using p16 immunohistochemical staining of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues.

Results: Of the 300 patients with HNSCC, the positive rate of p16 was 30.3% (91/300). The p16 positive rate was 70.1, 13.9, 20.8, 15, and 0% in the oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, hypopharynx, and sinonasal cavity, respectively. HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients were significantly younger than HPV-negative OPSCC patients. The positive rate of HPV in OPSCC has increased over time from 2008 to 2020, but has not changed significantly in the other primary sites. The disease-free survival curve of HPV-positive OPSCC was significantly better than that of HPV-negative tumors.

Conclusion: The positive rate of HPV in Korean patients with OPSCC is significantly high (70.1%), similar to that in North America and Europe, and has increased abruptly in the past 12 years.

Keywords: head and neck cancer; human papillomavirus; oropharyngeal cancer; prevalence; squamous cell carcinoma.