Title:Pathology of the HPV-associated Oropharyngeal Carcinoma
Volume: 11
Issue: 1
Author(s): Yuki Fukumura
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Detection method, HPV-associated oropharyngeal carcinoma pathological diagnosis, Human
papillomavirus (HPV), molecular diagnosis.
Abstract: Human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal carcinoma (HPV-OPC)
is increasing in many countries. It has distinct microscopic and molecular features as well as
clinical aspects. As for microscopic view, two subtypes, non-keratinizing squamous cell
carcinoma (NKSCC) and hybrid SCC (HSCC), 3 variants of SCC, undifferentiated carcinoma
(UC), basaloid carcinoma (BC), and papillary squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC), and
2 histological structures, abrupt keratinizarion and comedo-necrosis among non-maturing
island are related with HPV-OPC. As for molecular aspects, HPV-OPC is more likely to
have p53 degradation and Rb (retinoblastoma protein) inactivation with resulting p16 up-regulation compared
to HPV-unassociated oropharyngeal carcinoma.
