Utility of specific human papilloma virus DNA PCR to detect HPV in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Head and neck cancers represent the sixth most common cancer worldwide with approximately 630,000 new patients diagnosed annually resulting in more than 350,000 deaths every year. It is essential for the understanding the biological behavior of oral squamous cell carcinomas and pre-cancerous lesions that may be responsible for malignant transformation. Heterogeneity in prevalence and anatomic distribution are associated to demographic differences in the habits of exposure to tobacco and alcohol. It has been demonstrated that HPV infection is an independent prognostic factor, even in smoking patients, with 58% reduction of the risk of death. The wide variation in HPV prevalence can be attributed to different detection techniques, small sample numbers, differences in the lesions and sampling techniques and epidemiological characteristics of the populations studied. Among the many methods to detect HPV infections, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been well validated. HPV-positive oral squamous cell carcinomas may have a better prognosis than HPV-negative oral squamous cell carcinomas as HPV specific therapies may be available in near future. This study has been an effort to find out the incidence of HPV in oral squamous cell carcinoma in our setting.