Clinical and Molecular Characterization of Surgically Treated Oropharynx Squamous Cell Carcinoma Samples

Author(s)

de Carvalho, Ana Carolina ^[1] ; Melendez, Matias Eliseo ^[1] ; Sabato, Cristina da Silva ^[2] ; Palmero, Edenir Inez ^{[1, 2]} ; Rebolho Batista Arantes, Lidia Maria ^[1] ; Neto, Cristovam Scapulatempo ^{[1, 3]} ; Carvalho, Andre Lopes ^{[1, 4]}

Affiliation

^[1] Barretos Canc Hosp, Mol Oncol Res Ctr, Rua Antenor Duarte Vilela 1331, BR-14784400 Barretos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Ctr Mol Diag, Rua Antenor Duarte Vilela 1331, BR-14784400 Barretos, SP - Brazil

^[3] Barretos Canc Hosp, Dept Pathol, Rua Antenor Duarte Vilela 1331, BR-14784400 Barretos, SP - Brazil

^[4] Barretos Canc Hosp, Dept Head & Neck Surg, Rua Antenor Duarte Vilela 1331, BR-14784400 Barretos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Pathology & Oncology Research; v. 25, n. 3, p. 1047-1058, JUL 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

A better understanding of the clinical and molecular features of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) may help in the development of strategies for a better patient management, improving survival rates. This retrospective study conducted a clinical and molecular characterization of surgically treated OPSCC samples. Paraffin-embedded samples from a series of cases were screened for high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, methylation of a 5-gene panel, p53 expression, and TP53 mutation. The study was conducted at Barretos Cancer Hospital. Twenty-five surgically treated OPSCC with available tissue were included in the study. Samples were classified according to HPV status and molecular features and some of these characteristics were associated to clinical data. Twenty percent of the cases were HR-HPV positive and 62.5% presented TP53 mutations. DAPK hypermethylation was associated with HPV status (p=0.023), while methylated CCNA1 was inversely related to TP53 mutations in primary tumors (p=0.042) and associated with a better disease-free survival (22.3% vs. 100.0%; p=0.028) and overall survival (8.0% vs. 100.0%; p=0.012). The results show differences regarding molecular and clinical characteristics in the oropharynx cases identified that should be validated in more cases to confirm whether these differences are able to classify patients according to outcome and help in a more thorough patient management. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/01286-0 - Characterization of genetic and epigenetic alterations in specific genes in HPV-positive and HPV-negative tumors of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
• Grantee: André Lopes Carvalho
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants