Evaluation of p16^INK4a expression as a single marker to select patients with HPV-driven oropharyngeal cancers for treatment de-escalation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A remarkably better prognosis is associated with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) driven by human papillomaviruses (HPV) compared with HPV-negative OPSCC. Consequently, de-escalation of standard treatment has been suggested. Due to modest specificity rates, debates are ongoing, whether p16^INK4a, a surrogate marker for HPV-driven OPSCC, is sufficient to correctly identify those tumours and avoid substantial HPV misattribution and thus undertreatment of patients by de-escalation. Robust data estimating the proportion of potentially undertreated patients are missing.

Methods

We assessed a large-scale cohort of consecutively included OPSCC diagnosed between 2000 and 2017 for HPV-DNA, HPV genotypes, p16^INK4a expression and multiple t

SUBMITTER: Wagner S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7525437 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature