INTRODUCTION: The incidence of advanced oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers is generally high. Treatment outcomes for patients, especially those unfit for comprehensive cancer treatment, are unsatisfactory. Therefore, the search for factors to predict response to treatment and increase overall survival is underway. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the presence of 32 HPV genotypes in tumor samples of 34 patients and the effect of HPV status and RAD51 on overall survival. METHOD: Tumor samples of 34 patients with locally advanced oropharyngeal or oral cavity cancer treated with accelerated radiotherapy in monotherapy were analyzed using reverse hybridization and immunohistochemistry for the presence of HPV and RAD51. Its effect on overall survival was examined. RESULTS: Only two types of HPV were identified-HPV 16 (dominant) and HPV 66 (two samples). The HPV positivity was associated with a borderline insignificant improvement in 2-year (p = 0.083), 5-year (p = 0.159), and overall survival (p = 0.083). Similarly, the RAD51 overexpression was associated with borderline insignificant improvement in 2-year (p = 0.083) and 5-year (p = 0.159) survival. CONCLUSION: We found no statistically significant differences but detected trends toward improvement in the survival of HPV-positive and RAD51 overexpressing patients unfit for surgical treatment or chemotherapy treated with hyperfractionated radiotherapy. The trends, however, indicate that in a larger group of patients, the effects of these two parameters would likely be statistically significant.

3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague 100 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Clinical and Molecular Pathology and Medical Gentics University Hospital Ostrava 708 52 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

Department of Medical Hematology and Oncology Cantonal Hospital St Gallen 9007 St Gallen Switzerland

Department of Oncology University Hospital Ostrava 708 52 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery University Hospital Ostrava 708 52 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery University Hospital Ostrava 708 52 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

EUC Laboratory CGB Inc 703 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Facharzt Foederatio Medicorum Helveticorum Pathologie Pathologie Längasse 3063 Ittingen Switzerland

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Palacky University Olomouc 779 00 Olomouc Czech Republic

Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Faculty of Medicine University of Ostrava 703 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Faculty of Mining and Geology VŠB Technical University of Ostrava 708 33 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

Nanotechnology Centre VŠB Technical University of Ostrava Nanotechnology Centre 708 33 Ostrava Poruba Czech Republic

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