TY - JOUR T1 - Double Positivity for HPV DNA/P16<sup>INK4a</sup> Does Not Influence Survival of Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 5557 LP - 5568 DO - 10.21873/anticanres.15369 VL - 41 IS - 11 AU - UBAI ALSHARIF AU - MARVIN HOFMANN AU - MAXIMILIAN GEBHARD AU - LARS THARUN AU - DIRK RADES AU - PETER SIEG AU - SAMER G. HAKIM Y1 - 2021/11/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/41/11/5557.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: We investigated the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a prospective cohort of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (OSCC) using both p16INK4a and HPV DNA, i.e., double positivity, as a definition criterion. Additionally, we examined the association of HPV with survival. Patients and Methods: Samples from 280 OSCC patients were analyzed for HPV-positivity using p16INK4a immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH)/LCD arrays, for HPV low and high-risk types. Only patients positive for both p16INK4a and HPV DNA were considered as HPV-positive. Survival probabilities and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess HPV association with disease-free survival (DFS), cause-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) in a competing risks scenario. Results: Specimen from 30 (10.7%) patients were p16+ and HPV DNA+, while 31 (11.0%) were either p16+ or HPV DNA+ only. OS probabilities at five years for HPV-positive and -negative groups were 50.9% (35.4%-73.1%) and 52.9% (47.0%-59.5%), respectively. HPV double positivity influenced neither OS, CSS nor DFS: HR=0.84 (0.43-1.63), 1.64 (0.76-3.54) and 1.13 (0.55-2.35), respectively. Conclusion: In contrast to oropharyngeal cancer, the prevalence of HPV in OSCC is low and the presence of HPV does not influence survival outcomes. Hence, there is no evidence to support a parallel transfer of therapy regimen for HPV-positive OPC to OSCC, in terms of therapy de-escalation and/or vaccination. ER -