HPV Associated Head and Neck Cancer

Tara Spence; Jeff Bruce; Kenneth W Yip; Fei-Fei Liu

doi:10.3390/cancers8080075

HPV Associated Head and Neck Cancer

Cancers (Basel). 2016 Aug 5;8(8):75. doi: 10.3390/cancers8080075.

Authors

Tara Spence¹, Jeff Bruce², Kenneth W Yip³, Fei-Fei Liu^{4

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada. tara.spence@rmp.uhn.ca.
² Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada. jeffpbruce@gmail.com.
³ Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada. ken.yip@utoronto.ca.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada. fei-fei.liu@rmp.uhn.on.ca.
⁵ Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1L7, Canada. fei-fei.liu@rmp.uhn.on.ca.
⁶ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1P5, Canada. fei-fei.liu@rmp.uhn.on.ca.

Abstract

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are a highly heterogeneous group of tumours that are associated with diverse clinical outcomes. Recent evidence has demonstrated that human papillomavirus (HPV) is involved in up to 25% of HNCs; particularly in the oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC) subtype where it can account for up to 60% of such cases. HPVs are double-stranded DNA viruses that infect epithelial cells; numerous HPV subtypes, including 16, 18, 31, 33, and 35, drive epithelial cell transformation and tumourigenesis. HPV positive (HPV+) HNC represents a distinct molecular and clinical entity from HPV negative (HPV-) disease; the biological basis for which remains to be fully elucidated. HPV positivity is strongly correlated with a significantly superior outcome; indicating that such tumours should have a distinct management approach. This review focuses on the recent scientific and clinical investigation of HPV+ HNC. In particular, we discuss the importance of molecular and clinical evidence for defining the role of HPV in HNC, and the clinical impact of HPV status as a biomarker for HNC.

Keywords: (HPV+); HPV negative (HPV−); biomarker; head and neck cancer; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; human papillomavirus; microRNA; oropharyngeal carcinoma; prognosis.

Publication types

Review