What are the implications of human papillomavirus status in oropharyngeal tumors for clinical practice?
Abstract
Purpose of reviewHuman papillomavirus (HPV) status itself is an important and very probably the strongest prognostic factor in head and neck cancer. Because of the prognostic advantage of patients with HPV-positive cancers, the issue of the quality of life of survivors has become increasingly important.
The possibility of treatment de-escalation in patients with virally induced tumors is being considered. Many challenges have to be addressed in order to integrate HPV status in the routine decision-making in patients with oropharyngeal cancer.
The present review discusses the standardization of detection methods suitable for clinical use and the differences in predictive parameters between patients with HPV-positive and HPV-negative tumors.Recent findingsThe gold standard for the identification of patients with oropharyngeal tumors etiologically linked to HPV infection is undoubtedly the detection of HPV 16 E6/E7 mRNA. The detection of a surrogate marker of active viral infection, p16ink4a, has a low sensitivity when used alone and must therefore be combined with the detection of HPV DNA or HPV-specific antibodies.
The detailed knowledge of the importance of specific prognostic parameters is crucial in the choice of treatment. Nodal staging is probably much less important in HPV-positive cancers.SummaryIt is of great importance to implement standardized testing for the identification of patients with HPV-induced oropharyngeal tumors.
The treatment decision models in HPV-positive tumors have to take into account the probably different prognostic value of nodal parameters. Before introducing treatment de-escalation in patients with virally induced tumors into clinical practice, more research and clinical studies are needed.