Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a causative agent in a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Despite a variety of clinically available tests there is no consensus on which technique is the best for detection of HPV in HNSCCs. Although such field has received great interest within different countries and continents, African and Egyptian populations are not yet well studied within the literature. Aim of the work: To detect the prevalence of HPV16 in HNSSC and correlate the viral prevalence with different cliniopathologic parameters as well as patients{u2019} outcome. Material and Methods: This is a cross sectional analytical study which included 51 cases of HNSCC admitted at the Otorhinolaryngology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. HPV16 DNA was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with type-specific primers, while E6/7 mRNA was detected by real time PCR (RT-PCR) and p16 status was determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: HPV16 DNA was detected in 52.9% of cases, E6/7 mRNA was detected in 52.9% of cases and p16 was overexpressed in 49% of cases. There was a very good agreement between HPV16 DNA results by PCR and RNA results by RT-PCR (m= 0.843, p-value < 0.001). There was a good agreement between HPV16 DNA results by PCR and p16 IHC results (m= 0.608, p-value < 0.001). Likewise, there was a good agreement between RNA results by RT-PCR and p16 IHC results (m= 0.608, p-value < 0.001). By the end of the study period, 13.7% of patients died. The overall survival of the studied cases was 17.29 months. There was no statistically significant correlation between the overall survival and HPV status

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