Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 5, 2026
Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization as a Tool for HPV-Related Head and Neck Cancer Diagnosis
Published on: June 14, 2019
HPV-related Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: p16INK4A Immunohistochemistry or HPV Genotyping?
Maria Orsaria1, Stefania Marzinotto2, Luca De Marchi2
1Department of Medical and Biological Science, Institute of Anatomic Pathology, University Hospital of Udine, Udine, Italy mariaorsaria@yahoo.it.
Background:
Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is linked to a sub-group of squamous cell oropharyngeal tumors (OPSCC). Our aim was to compare an HPV Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay and p16(INK4A) expression status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a surrogate marker.
Materials And Methods:
This was a retrospective study considering patients affected by squamous cell oropharyngeal tumors. All included samples were processed for IHC for p16(INK4A) and tested by PCR for detection of HPV DNA and HPV genotyping.
Results:
A total of 84 patients affected by squamous cell oropharyngeal tumors were included and tested. A significant positive correlation was found between HPV PCR and p16(INK4A) IHC but the agreement was poor (k coefficient of 0.25). In fact, the sensitivity of p16(INK4A) IHC positivity in detecting HPV PCR positivity was low (28.21%, 95% confidence interval=16.54% - 43.78%).
Conclusion:
Positivity of p16(INK4A) by IHC had a low sensitivity in detecting HPV DNA and our results suggest the need at least to test p16(INK4A) IHC- negative samples using HPV PCR to increase detection accuracy and provide valuable information for the clinical management of these patients.
More Related Videos
10:26RNAscope for In situ Detection of Transcriptionally Active Human Papillomavirus in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: March 11, 2014
13:41Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012