[Molecular changes in epidermoid carcinoma of the oropharynx]

In most of the studies about molecular alterations in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck there is not distinction between the different subsites of this area. The objective of this study is to describe the molecular alterations in squamous cell carcinomas of the oropharynx. Twenty-nine oropharyngeal carcinomas, with a minimum follow-up of 36 months, were studied. The molecular alterations analyzed were: the amplification of 11q13 region (in the 29 cases), and the MYC and ERBB1 oncogenes (in 22 cases); the integration of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) types 6b and 16 (in 22 cases); the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of p53 and N-acetyltransferase-2 (NAT2) gene (in 12 and 13 informative cases, respectively); and the cellular DNA content (in 13 cases). The most frequent alterations found were the LOH at p53 (67%), and NAT2 (54%) locus, followed by 11q13 amplification (49%). ERBB1 amplification was found in 14% of the cases, and MYC amplification only in one (5%). Integration of the HPV was found in 23% of the cases. Nine (69%) of the 13 analyzed cases were aneuploid. The only alteration with a prognostic significance was 11q13 amplification that showed a tendency to be associated with a higher frequency of nodal metastases and tumor recurrence.