title: Human papillomavirus and survival in patients with base of tongue cancer.
abstract: The incidence of base of tongue cancer is increasing in Sweden and the proportion of human papillomavirus (HPV) positive cancer has increased in Stockholm, Sweden. Between 2006 and 2007, 84% of base of tongue cancer cases in Stockholm were HPV-positive. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of HPV status on prognosis for base of tongue cancer patients. One-hundred and nine patients were diagnosed with base of tongue cancer between 1998 and 2007 in Stockholm County and 95 paraffin-embedded diagnostic tumor biopsies were obtained and tested for HPV by PCR. Eighty-seven patients had available biopsies, were treated with intention to cure and could be included in the survival analysis. Age, sex, TNM-stage, stage, treatment and survival were recorded from patient charts. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to present survival data. In multivariable analyses, a Cox proportional hazards model was used to adjust for covariates. In total 68 (78%) tumor biopsies from the 87 included patients were HPV DNA positive. Kaplan-Meier estimates showed that the overall survival for patients with HPV-positive cancer was significantly better (p = 0.0004), (log-rank test) than that of patients with HPV-negative cancer. Patients with HPV-positive tumors also had significantly better disease-free survival (p = 0.0008), (log-rank test) than those with HPV-negative tumors. These results further strengthen the option to consider HPV-status when planning prospective studies on treatment for base of tongue cancer.
authors: Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. per.attner@karolinska.se
authors: Per
authors: P
authors: Attner
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Du
authors: Anders
authors: A
authors: Näsman
authors: Lalle
authors: L
authors: Hammarstedt
authors: Torbjörn
authors: T
authors: Ramqvist
authors: Johan
authors: J
authors: Lindholm
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Marklund
authors: Tina
authors: T
authors: Dalianis
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Munck-Wikland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*