Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
#134522 05-24-2011 06:12 PM
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 4
Member
OP Offline
Member

Joined: May 2011
Posts: 4
My dad was just diagnosed with Stage IV BOT cancer. The pathology report said that the tumor tested positive for P16. I've been trying to do research on the correlation between P16 positive and HPV. I know that being HPV positive has a better prognosis, so is there a correlation between p16 positive and HPV?

Gracie10 #134529 05-24-2011 08:06 PM
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 571
"Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)
Offline
"Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)

Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 571
Brian has done quite a bit of research on HPV and p16. He's posted lots of information on the forum. You may want to check out the subject HPV Positive on the Symptoms and Diagnosis Forum.

It is my understanding that when tumors test positive with a p16 cell stain that HPV proteins have been detected...it doesn't mean that the virus is active. It just means that the patient has had the virus in the past. The patient isn't contagious unless there is an active case of HPV. This subject is much more complicated than my rudimentary explanation.

HPV does have a better prognosis because the cell replication process that was damaged due to HPV exposure causes the malignant cells to be more sensitive to radiation--especially when given in conjunction with Erbitux. Erbitux, by the way, is not chemotherapy, per say. It is an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor inhibitor (EGFR inhibitor.)


Last edited by Sandy177; 05-24-2011 10:32 PM.

Ex-spouse MISDIAGNOSED with SCC-HN IVa 12/10. Tonsils out 1/11. 4 teeth out 2/11. TX Erbitux x2, IMRT x2 2/11. 2nd opinion-benign BCC-NOT CANCER 3/11. TX stopped 3/11. New doctors 4/11. ENT agrees with 2nd opinion 5/11. ENT scoped him-all clear 7/11. Ordered MRI anyway. MRI 8/22/11 Result-all clear.
Sandy177 #134671 05-28-2011 07:09 PM
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 638
klo Offline
"OCF Down Under"
"Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)
Offline
"OCF Down Under"
"Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 638
Hi Gracie

there has been some work on using surrogate markers to predict the presence of HPV. What this means is that researchers are trying to find ways of determining if the thing they can detect which is not the actual disease or outcome has some sort of link to the disease or outcome. An obvious example of this is blood pressure. We all know that high blood pressure is not good. We also know that the reason blood pressure is not good is because it is a "marker" of cardiovascular disease which will eventually kill you. The high blood pressure itself won't kill you - it is a marker for the thing that will (ie cardiovascular disease).

So,back to your question...your father's doctors are trying to determine if your Dad's tumour is HPV +ve. Now the best way to do this is actually test for HPV which I believe is either expensive or tricky and not available in all hospitals. The cheaper and technically easier method is to test for P16. Without going into the biological ins and outs of this (which I don't understand anyway), the researchers have found that there is good correlation between the overexpression of P16 and HPV +ve tumours.

Wittekindt C and colleagues published their findings in Current Research in Head and Neck Cancer. 2005,vol62,p72-80 which basically says, yes there is a correlation between P16 and the presence of HPV+ve tumours. What this means is that testing positive for P16 probably means that the tumour is HPV+ve and therefore, yes, your Dad probably has a better prognosis.

The quote below is from the trial that found this. There are a very few people with HPV+ve tumours who test negative for P16 and even fewer who test postitive for P16 when they have a -ve tumour so this is a reasonable though not infallible measure to test for HPV+ve oral tumours.

[quote] We found 53% of the tested tonsillar carcinomas to be HPV positive. 56% of all tumors tested were immunohistochemically positive for the p16 protein. In 16 of 18 of the HPV-positive carcinomas diffuse p16 expression was observed. In contrast, only 1 of the HPV-negative carcinomas showed focal p16 staining (p < 0.001). Clinical outcome analysis revealed a significant correlation of p16 expression with increased disease-free survival (p = 0.02). These data indicate that p16 is a technically simple immunohistological marker, applicable for routine pathological histology, and its prognostic value for survival is fully equivalent to HPV DNA detection.
[/quote]


Karen
Love of Life to Alex T4N2M0 SCC Tonsil, BOT, R lymph nodes
Dx March 2010 51yrs. Unresectable. HPV+ve
Tx Chemo x 3+1 cycles(cisplatin,docetaxel,5FU)- complete May 31
Chemoradiation (IMRTx35 + weekly cisplatin)
Finish Aug 27
Return to work 2 years on
3 years out Aug 27 2013 NED smile
Still underweight
klo #134780 06-01-2011 12:23 PM
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 4
Member
OP Offline
Member

Joined: May 2011
Posts: 4
Thank you Karen and Sandy for the great information. His doctor confirmed yesterday that he does have HPV. Now it's time to begin treatment and it's nice to know the prognosis is better.


Moderated by  Brian Hill 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Top Posters
ChristineB 10,507
davidcpa 8,311
Cheryld 5,260
EzJim 5,260
Brian Hill 4,912
Newest Members
Jina, VintageMel, rahul320, Sean916, Megm37
13,103 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums23
Topics18,166
Posts196,921
Members13,103
Most Online458
Jan 16th, 2020
OCF Awards

Great Nonprofit OCF 2023 Charity Navigator OCF Guidestar Charity OCF

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5