Background: Most studies on human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) have been performed on white Americans. Our study examined the incidence of HPV in an African American oropharyngeal SCC cohort and its survival.
Methods: African American patients with oropharyngeal SCC in a combined tumor registry were identified. HPV16 testing was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from DNA extracted from tumor blocks. The p16 staining was performed using standard immunohistochemistry.
Results: Forty-four patients were identified for analysis. Seventy-three percent of the tumors were HPV-positive. Only 39% of the patients who were HPV-positive were also p16-positive. Survival between all 3 tumor types, patients who tested HPV-positive/p16, HPV-positive/p16-positive, and HPV-negative/p16-negative was significantly different (p = .03). HPV/p16 status was significant on univariate and multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: HPV oropharyngeal SCC is strongly present in this African American cohort. Two thirds of the patients who were HPV-positive were p16-negative. Greater study is needed to explain the high p16 negativity among this HPV-positive oropharyngeal SCC African American cohort. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E867-E872, 2016.
Keywords: African Americans; head and neck neoplasms; healthcare disparities; human papillomavirus; oropharyngeal neoplasms.
© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.