Abstract
Head and neck tumors significantly contribute to the overall cancer incidence and mortality. Recently, notable rise of the HPV associated tumors has been observed in this heterogeneous group, mainly represented by oropharyngeal carcinomas.
Currently, 70-90% of all oropharyngeal carcinomas are HPV positive. Treatment algorithms involve surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, nevertheless overall mortality from this malignancy still exceeds 40%.
Investigation of the role of HPV bivalent and quadrivalent vaccination has demonstrated the ability to induce the production of neutralizing antibodies. Furthermore, studies which compared the incidence of HPV positivity in oral specimens found that vaccination led to a significant decrease in the prevalence of HPV positivity, corresponding to a 72-88% vaccination efficacy.
In June 2020, the indication for Gardasil vaccine was expanded to include prevention of oropharyngeal carcinomas and recommended for both sexes in the age range 9-45 years.