Divya Raj
Assistant Professor at Regional Cancer Center
Title: Frequency of Human Papilloma Virus infection in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and its clinical significance –A retrospective study
Biography
Biography: Divya Raj
Abstract
Oral cancer is an important health problem in South East Asia, several parts of Europe and Africa. Though tobacco and alcohol are the important causative agent, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection is also attributed in the carcinogenesis of oral and oropharyngeal cancer. However information on the prevalence of HPV virus in oral cancers from India is sparse. The objective of the study is to identify the frequency of HPV infection in oral cancer and its correlation to p16INK4A expression and to assess its impact on treatment response and survival. A total of 201 paraffin embedded tissue blocks of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients treated at Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India during the period of 2009-2011 were retrieved. HPV DNA was isolated from these tissue blocks by Polymerase chain reaction and expression of p16INK4A was analyzed by immunohistochemical method. Survival curves were obtained by using the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared with log rank test. The frequency of HPV 16 in oral SCC patients in the present study was 6.6% and all the HPV positive cancers were carcinoma tongue. All HPV positive cases showed intense p16INK4A expression and the survival was better. In future the expression of p16INK4Aand HPV status will be a good marker in decision making for oral cancer management.