Prognostic significance of p16INK4Aand human papillomavirus in patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated on TROG 02.02 phase III trial

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the prognostic importance of p16 and human papillomavirus (HPV) in patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated on a phase III concurrent chemoradiotherapy trial. Patients and Methods: Patients with stage III or IV head and neck squamous cell cancer were randomly assigned to concurrent radiotherapy and cisplatin with or without tirapazamine. In this substudy, analyses were restricted to patients with oropharyngeal cancer. p16 was detected by immunohistochemistry, and HPV was detected by in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction. Results: Slides were available for p16 assay in 206 of 465 patients, of which 185 were eligible, and p16 and HPV were evaluable in 172 ..