Patients with human papillomavirus DNA positive (HPVDNA) and p16 overexpressing (p16) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), especially those with cancer in the tonsillar and base of tongue subsites as compared to other OPSCC subsites have a better outcome than those with only HPVDNA or only p16 cancer. Likewise having a high viral load has been suggested to be a positive prognostic factor. We therefore hypothesized, that HPV viral load could vary depending on OPSCC subsite, as well as with regard to whether the cancer was HPVDNA and p16, or only HPVDNA, or only p16 and that this affected outcome. To address these issues HPV viral load was determined by HPV digital droplet (dd) PCR in tumor biopsies with previously known HPVDNA/p16 status from 270 OPSCC patients diagnosed 2000–2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. More specifically, of these patients 235 had HPVDNA/p16, 10 had HPVDNA/p16, 13 had HPVDNA/p16 and 12 had HPVDNA/p16 cancer. We found that HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC had a significantly higher viral load than HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC. Moreover, there was a tendency for a higher viral load in the tonsillar and base of tongue OPSCC subsites compared to the other subsites and for a low viral load to correlate to a better clinical outcome but none of these tendencies reached statistical significance. To conclude, the mean viral load in HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC was higher than in HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC, but there was no statistically significant difference in viral load depending on OPSCC subsite or on clinical outcome.

中文翻译：

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HPVDNA/p16 阳性的人乳头瘤病毒 (HPV) 载量高于 HPVDNA 阳性/p16 阴性口咽鳞状细胞癌，但不同亚位点之间没有显着差异，也与生存相关

人乳头瘤病毒 DNA 阳性 (HPVDNA) 和 p16 过表达 (p16) 口咽鳞状细胞癌 (OPSCC) 患者，尤其是扁桃体和舌根亚部位癌症患者，与其他 OPSCC 亚部位相比，比仅患有 HPVDNA 的患者预后更好或仅 p16 癌症。同样，高病毒载量被认为是一个积极的预后因素。因此，我们假设，HPV 病毒载量可能因 OPSCC 亚位点以及癌症是否为 HPVDNA 和 p16，或仅 HPVDNA，或仅 p16 而异，并且这会影响结果。为了解决这些问题，通过对 2000-2016 年瑞典斯德哥尔摩诊断的 270 名 OPSCC 患者的肿瘤活检进行 HPV 数字液滴 (dd) PCR 测定 HPV 病毒载量，这些患者先前已知 HPVDNA/p16 状态。更具体地说，这些患者中，235 名患有 HPVDNA/p16，10 名患有 HPVDNA/p16，13 名患有 HPVDNA/p16，12 名患有 HPVDNA/p16 癌症。我们发现 HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC 的病毒载量显着高于 HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC。此外，与其他亚位点相比，扁桃体和舌根部 OPSCC 亚位点存在病毒载量较高的趋势，并且低病毒载量与更好的临床结果相关，但这些趋势均未达到统计学显着性。总之，HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC 的平均病毒载量高于 HPVDNA/p16 OPSCC，但根据 OPSCC 亚位点或临床结果，病毒载量没有统计学上的显着差异。