HPV-16 viral load in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma using digital PCR

Abstract

Conclusions: We did not identify any strong associations between HPV-16 viral load and any of the clinical or lifestyle factors.

Objective: The epidemiology of oropharyngeal SCC is changing, with an increasing proportion of HPV-positive cases seen in the last decade. It is known that a high viral load is linked to the development of cervical cancer, the relation between viral load and oropharyngeal SCC is less clear. We sought to determine HPV-16 viral load in HPV-positive oropharyngeal SCCs using highly sensitive digital PCR and to identify clinical and lifestyle factors associated with viral load.

Subjects and methods: We analysed 45 HPV-16 positive oropharyngeal SCCs diagnosed between 2013 and 2015. All patients completed a lifestyle questionnaire and clinical data were extracted from medical charts. Viral load was determined using digital PCR assays for HPV-L1 and RNAseP.

Results: We found large variations in HPV-16 viral load from 1 to 930 copies per cell (median 34 copies per cell).

Chinese abstract

结论：我们没有发现HPV-16病毒载量与任何临床或生活方式因素之间的紧密关系。

目的：口咽鳞状细胞癌的流行病学正在发生变化, 过去十年中, HPV阳性病例的比例越来越高。众所周知, 高病毒载量与宫颈癌的发展有关, 而病毒载量与口咽SCC之间的关系还不甚明了。我们试图使用高敏感数字PCR来确定HPV阳性口咽SCC中的HPV-16病毒载量, 并识别出与病毒载量相关的临床和生活方式因素。

研究对象和方法：我们分析了2013年至2015年间诊断的45例HPV-16阳性口咽鳞状细胞癌。所有患者均完成了生活方式问卷调查；从医疗图表中提取临床数据。使用HPV-L1和RNAseP的数字PCR测定来确定病毒载量。

结果：我们发现HPV-16病毒载量差异巨大, 单个细胞中有从1至930个拷贝（中值为每细胞34个拷贝）。

Keywords:

• Human papilloma virus
• HPV-16
• viral load
• oropharyngeal SCC
• lifestyle factors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by National Health and Medical Research Council [APP1058522, APP1065293] and Queensland Head and Neck Cancer Centre. The funding bodies played no role in the design or conduct of the study. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funding bodies.