THURSDAY, May 14, 2009 (Health.com) — Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a sexually transmitted virus that can wreak havoc in the body, causing genital warts and cancers of the cervix, anus, head, or neck, depending on where and what strain of the virus strikes.
Now a new study suggests that this “bad news” virus may actually be good news for people who already have cancers of the upper throat or back of the tongue. People with these types of tumors, known as cancers of the oropharynx, have a better chance of survival if the tumors contain HPV than if they don’t, according to a study released this week that is to be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting later this month.
In fact, the difference is so substantial that researchers say that these types of tongue and throat cancers should be studied and treated as if they are two separate types of cancer—one probably caused by HPV and the other caused by other factors, usually prolonged use of cigarettes or alcohol.
The American Cancer Society says that more than 35,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer in 2008, and more than 7,500 people died of the disease.
In the study, 64% of people with oropharyngeal cancer were found to have HPV-positive tumors, and these patients were about half as likely to die within five years of diagnosis as those with HPV-free tumors. This was true even after the researchers took into account six major factors that can affect survival, including treatment.
“HPV tumor status was found to be markedly associated with overall survival,” says lead author Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, epidemiology, and otolaryngology at Ohio State University in Columbus. At two years, 88% of patients with HPV-positive tumors were alive compared to 66% for HPV-negative tumors.
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