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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of a Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Subpopulation Having Stem Cell Characteristics
Published on: May 11, 2016
Clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of recurrent oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma
Chase M Heaton1, Karina Yu2, Sarah Calkins3
1Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 2233 Post Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Purpose:
Positive p16 immunohistochemical staining is predictive of improved survival and response to treatment. The purpose of this study is to determine the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of patients with p16+ oropharynx cancer who fail initial treatment.
Materials And Methods:
Case series including all patients with recurrent oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma from 2002 to 2014.
Results:
Forty patients met inclusion criteria. Thirty-one (77.5%) tumors were p16+ and 9 (22.5%) were p16-. There was no difference in T/M stage at diagnosis; more patients with p16+ tumors presented initially with ≥N2 disease (p=0.04). Regional and/or metastatic recurrence was more common in the p16+ group as compared to the p16- group - 71% vs 22.2%, p=0.003. Outcomes for both groups were poor - 67.7% p16+ and 44.4% p16- patients died from disease.
Conclusions:
Compared to p16- recurrent tumor patients, p16+ recurrent tumor patients were more likely to experience regional or distant metastatic recurrence. Overall outcomes for both p16+ and p16- recurrent oropharynx tumors were poor.
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