Markers of HPV infection and survival in patients with head and neck tumors

The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA prevalence in oral rinses and/or HPV‐specific antibody levels in the sera of patients with oral/oropharyngeal cancer have prognostic significance. One hundred and forty‐two patients with oral/oropharyngeal tumors were enrolled. The presence of HPV DNA was assayed in tumor tissue and oral rinses and HPV‐specific antibodies were assessed in the sera. Oral rinses were collected before treatment and one year after the treatment. Sera were drawn before treatment, one month, and one year after the end of the treatment. Altogether, 59.2% of tumors were HPV positive. The presence of HPV DNA in the tumors correlated with HPV DNA positivity in oral rinses and with HPV‐specific antibodies in the sera. Out of 66 patients with HPV‐positive oral rinses at enrolment, 84.8% became negative at one‐year follow‐up, while most patients remained seropositive for HPV‐specific antigens. However, the mean titers of HPV16 E6 and/or E7 antibodies at follow‐up were significantly lower. Of 16 patients with recurrences at follow‐up (alive on second sampling), six were positive at enrolment for HPV16 E6 and/or E7 antibodies. In five of these, no decrease in antibody levels was observed. Titers of antibodies specific for HPV16 capsid antigens did not change during the follow‐up. Our data suggest that the detection of antibodies specific for the HPV 16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins may serve not only as a marker of HPV etiology, but also as a marker of recurrence and a prognostic indicator in patients with HPV‐positive tumors. What's new? Do changes in the amount of HPV DNA detected orally indicate whether cancer will recur? In this paper, the authors collected oral rinses from 142 patients before and after treatment. They found that the presence of HPV in the oral rinse correlated with HPV DNA detected in the tumor tissues, but that by one year after treatment, the oral rinse usually came back negative for HPV despite the continuing presence of HPV in the tumor cells. On the other hand, the authors did find that lingering HPV antibodies in the bloodstream seemed to correlate with tumor recurrence, suggesting that antibody testing could be a good prognostic indicator in patients with HPV‐positive tumors.