Human papillomavirus and nasopharyngeal cancer.

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Human papillomavirus and nasopharyngeal cancer.

Head Neck. 2018 Jan 11;:

Authors: Verma V, Simone CB, Lin C

Abstract
BACKGROUND: There are no existing high-volume studies characterizing human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).
METHODS: The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was queried for NPC with known HPV (2004-2013). Logistic regression ascertained factors associated with HPV-positivity. Kaplan-Meier overall survival (OS) was evaluated between HPV-positive and HPV-negative cohorts; Cox proportional hazards modeling assessed factors associated with OS. Patients with nonmetastatic disease receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy underwent propensity-matched OS analysis.
RESULTS: Altogether, 956 patients were analyzed (32% HPV-positive and 68% HPV-negative). Median follow-up was 23 months (range 0-67 months). The patients with HPV-positive disease were younger, less likely to be uninsured, lived in more educated areas, and presented with more advanced T (but not N/overall) classification. Median OS for HPV-positive and HPV-negative groups were 50 and 43 months, respectively (P = .171). The HPV status did not independently predict for OS (P = .183). No OS differences were observed after propensity matching (P = .734).
CONCLUSION: In what we believe as the only large study of HPV-associated NPC, HPV neither correlates with nor predicts survival in NPC. Owing to the difficulty of addressing causality in database studies, further work must corroborate the findings herein.

PMID: 29323765 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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