Association between oropharyngeal cancers with known HPV and p16 status and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: a Danish population-based study

AbstractBackground: Persistent infection with high-risk genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main risk factor in the development of uterine cervical precancerous lesions and cervical cancer (CC), and cases of HPV-induced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is increasing in the Western world. We investigated the association between HPV and p16 status and previous results of cervical examinations, including cytological and histological tests, in females with OPSCC.Material and Methods: We included females diagnosed with an OPSCC in Eastern Denmark from 2000 to 2014. OPSCCs were assessed for p16-overexpression and HPV DNA PCR. History of cervical tests was obtained from the Danish Pathology Registry. The cytology and histological results were categorized in accordance with the 2014 Bethesda System (TBS) and WHO. Hence, we divide the cervical results into two groups. Group I were negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy and group II had epithelial cell abnormalities and subdivided...