Human Papillomavirus Types Conferring Poor Cancer Prognosis

To the Editor In their interesting research letter, Bratman and colleagues report that patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes other than HPV-16 have inferior survival. They propose that this finding will affect patient selection in trials of treatment deintensification, which seek to minimize long-term toxic effects in patients with highly curable HPV-initiated oropharyngeal cancer. Data respecting the relative importance of p16 and HPV status in predicting outcome after chemoradiotherapy, as well as experience in cervical cancer, may be helpful in interpreting these results.

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