HEAD AND NECK Prevalence of human papillomavirus in oral squamous cell carcinomas in northern Spain Tania Rodrı ´guez-Santamarta 1 • Juan Pablo Rodrigo 2,3 • Juana M. Garcı ´a-Pedrero 3 • Sau ´l A ´ lvarez-Teijeiro 3 • M. A ´ ngeles Villaronga 3 • Laura Sua ´rez-Ferna ´ndez 3 • Marta E. Alvarez-Argu ¨ elles 4 • Aurora Astudillo 5 • Juan Carlos de Vicente 1,3,6 Received: 16 March 2016 / Accepted: 14 June 2016 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of high-risk HPV in oral squamous cell carci- noma (OSCC) in a northern Spanish population, as well as to ascertain the prognostic role of p16 INK4a expression. The examination samples were collected from paraffin tissue blocks, from 125 patients surgically treated between 1996 and 2007. All cases were histologically evaluated, and the presence of HPV was assessed by p16 and p53immuno- histochemistry followed by DNA detection by in situ hybridization (ISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the combination of consensus primers MY11/GP6 ? . Fourteen cases (11 %) were p16-im- munopositive, and p53 was scored positive in 73 cases (58 %). Five cases (4 %) showed a simultaneous p16- positive and p53-negative immunostaining. ISH was neg- ative in all the cases. Among the p16INK4a-immunoposi- tive cases, PCR amplification failed to reveal HPV DNA in any tumor samples. There were no statistically significant differences in any clinical or pathological characteristics of the patients regarding p16 INK4a expression. T classification, neck-node metastasis, and clinical stage showed outcome relevance. However, no significant differences in cause- specific survival based on p16INK4a were observed. We did not find any high-risk HPV types in our patients, thus, are unlikely that HPV has an important role in the etiology of OSCC. p16INK4a protein was neither an accurate marker of HPV infection nor a prognosis marker in OSCC. Keywords Oral squamous cell carcinoma Á Human papilomavirus Á Prevalence Á Immunohistochemistry Á In situ hybridization Á Polymerase chain reaction Introduction Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC), one of the leading cancers in the world, is a collective term for an anatomically heterogeneous group of neoplasms arising from the mucosa of the oral cavity, oropharynx, nasopharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, and sinonasal tract. Annually, more than 650,000 patients worldwide are diagnosed with HNSCC [1]. Cancer of the oral cavity accounts for 2–3 % of all malignancies [2], is ranked as the fifth most common type of cancer [3], and includes cancers of labial and buccal mucosa, anterior two-thirds of tongue, T. Rodrı ´guez-Santamarta, J. P. Rodrigo and J. M. Garcı ´a-Pedrero contributed equally to this work. & Juan Carlos de Vicente jvicente@uniovi.es 1 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA), C/Carretera de Rubı ´n, s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 2 Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA), C/Carretera de Rubı ´n, s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 3 Instituto Universitario de Oncologı ´a del Principado de Asturias (IUOPA), Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Edificio Consultas Externas, Planta Baja Lab 2 ORL-IUOPA, C/Celestino Villamil, s/n, 33006 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 4 Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA), C/Carretera de Rubı ´n, s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 5 Department of Pathology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA), C/Carretera de Rubı ´n, s/n, 33011 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain 6 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, School of Medicine, c/ Catedra ´tico Jose ´ Serrano s/n, 33006 Oviedo, Spain 123 Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol DOI 10.1007/s00405-016-4152-9