PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Human papillomavirus (HPV) status itself is an important and very probably the strongest prognostic factor in head and neck cancer. Because of the prognostic advantage of patients with HPV-positive cancers, the issue of the quality of life of survivors has become increasingly important. The possibility of treatment de-escalation in patients with virally induced tumors is being considered. Many challenges have to be addressed in order to integrate HPV status in the routine decision-making in patients with oropharyngeal cancer. The present review discusses the standardization of detection methods suitable for clinical use and the differences in predictive parameters between patients with HPV-positive and HPV-negative tumors. RECENT FINDINGS: The gold standard for the identification of patients with oropharyngeal tumors etiologically linked to HPV infection is undoubtedly the detection of HPV 16 E6/E7 mRNA. The detection of a surrogate marker of active viral infection, p16ink4a, has a low sensitivity when used alone and must therefore be combined with the detection of HPV DNA or HPV-specific antibodies. The detailed knowledge of the importance of specific prognostic parameters is crucial in the choice of treatment. Nodal staging is probably much less important in HPV-positive cancers. SUMMARY: It is of great importance to implement standardized testing for the identification of patients with HPV-induced oropharyngeal tumors. The treatment decision models in HPV-positive tumors have to take into account the probably different prognostic value of nodal parameters. Before introducing treatment de-escalation in patients with virally induced tumors into clinical practice, more research and clinical studies are needed.

• MeSH
• DNA testy na papilomavirus MeSH
• DNA virů analýza   MeSH
• infekce papilomavirem diagnóza   virologie   MeSH
• kvalita života MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• lidský papilomavirus 16 MeSH
• lymfatické metastázy MeSH
• messenger RNA analýza   MeSH
• nádorové biomarkery analýza   MeSH
• nádory orofaryngu diagnóza   virologie   MeSH
• prognóza MeSH
• rizikové faktory MeSH
• rozhodování MeSH
• senzitivita a specificita MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• přehledy MeSH