p16 Overexpression in Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Association with Human Papillomavirus and Prediction of Survival Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 12; no. 21; p. 6861
• Main Authors: Hirakawa, Hitoshi, Ikegami, Taro, Touyama, Masatomo, Ooshiro, Yurika, Higa, Tomoyo, Higa, Teruyuki, Agena, Shinya, Kinjyo, Hidetoshi, Kondo, Shunsuke, Kise, Norimoto, Tanaka, Katsunori, Maeda, Hiroyuki, Tamaki, Tomoko, Wada, Naoki, Suzuki, Mikio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-11-2023
• Subjects: Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Chi-square test; Classification; Clinical medicine; Complications and side effects; Endoscopy; Head and neck cancer; Health aspects; Hemoglobin; Histology; Human papillomavirus; Hybridization; Infections; Lymphatic system; Lymphocytes; Magnetic resonance imaging; Measurement; Medical prognosis; Metastasis; Neutrophils; Nutritional status; Palliative care; Papillomavirus infections; Patients; Prevention; Radiation therapy; Risk factors; Sinuses; Squamous cell carcinoma; Surgeons; Surgery; Tomography; Tumors; Japan; United States > US
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm12216861

p16 overexpression is often used as a surrogate marker for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma but remains an uncertain diagnostic tool for HPV-related sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma (SNSCC). Our study involved 79 consecutive SNSCC patients who were treated at a tertiary referral university hospital during 2006–2021. We retrospectively examined their clinical characteristics and conducted p16 immunohistochemistry and HPV detection. We found that 12.7% of the patients exhibited p16 overexpression, which was significantly more common in the nasal cavity and increased from 2015 onward. The HPV was a high-risk type and viral loads ranged from 4.2 to 1.6 × 106 copies/ng DNA with genome integration. Five-year overall survival (OS) and five-year relapse-free survival (RFS) rates were 74.6% and 69.9%, respectively. Our multivariate analysis showed that T category (T1–4a) and hemoglobin levels (≥13.7) were significant favorable prognostic factors for OS, while T category, performance status, and p16 overexpression were significantly associated with RFS. In patients with p16 overexpression, OS was 100% and RFS was 90%. Our findings suggest that p16 overexpression is a reliable surrogate marker for transcriptionally active HPV infection and predicts a favorable prognosis.