Association of HPV genotype and phylogenic clade with oropharyngeal cancer outcomes.

Authors

null

Michael Wotman

MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Michael Wotman , Brandon Gold , Megan D'Andrea , Derek Kao , William Westra , Scott Roof , Krzystof Misiukiewicz , Marshall R. Posner

Organizations

MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY

Research Funding

Other
Philanthropy

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a causative agent of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPVOPC). There are multiple different HPV genotypes based on variations in the nucleotide sequence of the L1 capsid, with HPV16 being most common in HPVOPC (85%). HPV genotypes can be further classified into phylogenic clades, including alpha-9 (A9) and alpha-7 (A7). HPVOPC is associated with a more favorable prognosis than HPV-negative disease, but the impact of specific HPV genotype and phylogenic clade on patient outcomes is not well understood and has profound implications for de-escalation studies in HPVOPC. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a large multicenter health system. Patients diagnosed with non-metastatic HPVOPC or unknown primary from 2012-2021 and treated with curative intent were included. Low-risk HPV types (6, 11, etc) and local recurrences were excluded. HPV molecular typing was prospectively performed according to institutional protocol. Cox regressions were used to measure the effect of HPV genotype (16 versus non-16) on overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS). Gender, smoking status, alcohol use, ECOG performance status, T stage, N stage, and subsite (oropharynx versus known primary) were covariates. A secondary survival analysis according to high-risk HPV clade (A9 versus A7) was also performed. Results: The total cohort included 520 patients, the majority of whom were HPV16 (86.9%, n = 452), A9 clade (97.1%, n = 505), oropharynx primary (94.8%, n = 493), male (86.9%, n = 452), white (72.5%, n = 377), non-Hispanic (74.2%, n = 386), non-active smokers (88.3%, n = 459), ECOG 0 (75.6%, n = 393), and N2 stage (65.2%, n = 339). The most common non-16 HPV genotypes were 18 (n = 7), 33 (n = 21), and 35 (n = 29). HPV genotype was not associated with OS (HR = 1.64, 95% CI 0.85-3.16, p= 0.14) or EFS (HR = 1.15, 95% CI 0.64-2.07, p= 0.65). A7 clade was associated with a worse OS compared to A9 in the univariate analysis (HR = 3.43, 95% CI 1.07-10.97, p= 0.04), but not in the multivariate analysis (HR = 1.67, 95% CI 0.45-6.17, p = 0.44). Finally, HPV clade was not associated with EFS (HR = 1.38, 95% CI 0.34-5.60, p= 0.66). Conclusions: While HPV genotype was not associated with survival differences in patients with HPVOPC, HPV A7 clade only predicted worse OS in univariate analysis. Although the total cohort size was large, this analysis was limited by small numbers of subjects with non-16 HPV genotypes and non-A9 clade, which is reflective of the predominance of HPV16 in HPVOPC. Thus, a pooled multicenter collaboration is needed to further address this question. Moreover, future studies should investigate whether outcomes may be related to intratypic HPV16 variants that affect oncoprotein function and/or immunogenicity. Detection of a subgroup of HPVOPC with possible inferior outcomes has important implications for studying treatment de-escalation in HPVOPC.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Head and Neck Cancer

Track

Head and Neck Cancer

Sub Track

Biologic Correlates

Citation

J Clin Oncol 41, 2023 (suppl 16; abstr 6058)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.6058

Abstract #

6058

Poster Bd #

50

Abstract Disclosures