Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub. 2023, 167(4):319-327 | DOI: 10.5507/bp.2023.040

Current status and future perspectives of oral HPV testing in the diagnosis and monitoring of oropharyngeal cancer. A review

Zuzana Horákova, Ivo Starek, Richard Salzman
Clinic of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Olomouc, Palacky University Olomouc, Zdravotniku 248/7, 779 00, Olomouc, Czech Republic

HPV16 status in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is an important prognostic factor. Its determination, based on immunistochemical analysis of p16 oncoprotein requires an invasive biopsy. Thus, alternative methods are being sought. Determining oral HPV16 status appears to be a promising alternative. However, it is not used routinely. This prompted us to perform a systematic literature review enabling us to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive ability of this approach. Thirty-four relevant studies were finally selected. For determination of HPV status in OPC, the calculated average sensitivity and specificity for oral sampling was 74% and 91%, respectively, with p16 tumour tissue marker being the gold standard. The method appears to be valuable in monitoring treatment response as well as the biological activity of the tumour, enabling early detection of persistent or relapsing carcinoma sufficiently long before its clinical and/or radiological manifestation. It can also contribute to identification of the primary tumour in cases of metastases of unknown origin. Last but not least, the screening HPV oral testing would help to identify individuals with persistent HPV oral infection who are at increased risk of development of OPC.

Keywords: head neck cancer, human papilloma virus, oropharyngeal cancer, oral HPV infection, oncologic marker

Received: June 15, 2023; Revised: September 12, 2023; Accepted: October 2, 2023; Prepublished online: October 20, 2023; Published: December 4, 2023  Show citation

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Horákova, Z., Starek, I., & Salzman, R. (2023). Current status and future perspectives of oral HPV testing in the diagnosis and monitoring of oropharyngeal cancer. A review. Biomedical papers, 167(4), 319-327. doi: 10.5507/bp.2023.040
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