Prognostic significance of HPV16 infection in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background/Aim: Many studies confirmed strong association between oncogenic genotypes of Human Papillomaviruses (HPVs) and some oropharyngeal and oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of HPV16 infection in OSCC in population of Montenegro i.e. correlation between HPV16 infection and disease free interval (DFI), disease recurrence and metastasis occurrence. Material and Methods: We examined surgically obtained specimens from 60 patients with OSCC (localized on the lower lip, tongue or/and floor of the mouth) in six years period. Tumor tissue samples were used for histological analysis and HPV16 genome PCR detection (primers for detection of E6 gene). Patients were followed up for the 3 years. Results: HPV16 infection was more commonly detected in females with OSCC (p=0.038), while no correlation between this infection and disease recurrence (p= 0.122) and/or metastasis occurrence (p= 0.934) was found. DFI was not significantly different between patients with or without HPV16 infection (p= 0.427), but DFI was significantly shorter (p= 0.003) in females with oral HPV16 infection compared to male patients with this infection. Conclusions: Counting that HPV16 infection has a negative prognostic significance in OSCC, the HPV immunization program against genital HPV infection, would also have a positive impact on the frequency of HPV-mediated OSCC in Montenegrin population.