Prognostic value of posttreatment HPV‐specific antibodies in patients with oropharyngeal tumors

Background The presence of human papillomavirus (HPV)‐specific antibodies in patients with head and neck cancer at enrollment has prognostic significance. In cervical carcinoma patients, the decrease of HPV E6/E7‐specific antibodies appears to be associated with a better prognosis. Methods This prospective study with follow‐up focused on the persistence and prognostic value of antibodies specific for HR HPV‐derived VLPs and HPV16 E6/E7 oncoproteins in patients with oropharyngeal cancers. In this study, we analyzed sera of 93 patients taken a year after the end of treatment and sera from 58 of these patients taken up to 14 years after treatment. Results The level of HPV‐specific antibodies decreased on the 1‐year follow‐up and the decrease during the long follow‐up was statistically significant. For HPV16 E7 antibodies the decrease was steeper in nonrecurrent patients. While the level of antibodies at enrollment was not predictive of recurrences, the decrease of HPV16 E6 antibodies at 1‐year follow up was associated with better overall as well as disease‐specific survival of patients. Conclusions The data suggest that the pretreatment level of HPV‐specific antibodies is not predictive of the occurrence of recurrences but the decrease HPV16 E6 antibodies on the 1‐year follow‐up is predictive of better survival of HN patients.