Dual role for p16 in the metastasis process of HPV positive head and neck cancers

Table 1 Correlation between patient characteristics, HPV and p16 status

	HPV negative		HPV positive		P	p16 negative		p16 positive		P
	No.	(%)	No.	(%)		No.	(%)	No.	(%)
No. of patients
	175		58			173		68
Gender					p = 0.67^b					p = 0.99^b
Male	146	83	47	81		143	83	56	82
Female	29	17	11	19		30	17	12	18
Age, years					p = 0.031^a					p = 0.046^a
Median (Range)	59	(57–60)	61	(59–65)		59	(57–60)	61	(59–64)
Smoking history					p = 0.001^b					p = 0.004^b
Never	8	5	15	26		11	6	13	19
Former	20	11	11	19		22	13	11	16
Current	126	72	25	43		120	69	35	51
Unknown	21	12	7	12		20	12	9	13
Treatment					p = 0.68^b					p = 0.15^b
RT	71	41	19	33		68	39	29	43
RT + CT	97	55	34	59		100	58	33	49
RT + EGFR inhibitor	5	3	2	3		3	2	4	6
Unknown	2	1	3	5		2	1	2	3
Nodal stage*					p = 0.014^b					p = 0.07^b
N0/N1	80	45	16	28		78	45	25	37
N2/N3	95	54	42	72		94	54	43	63
Unknown	2	1	0	0		1	1	0	0
Tumor stage*					p = 0.025^b					p = 0.11^b
T1/2	51	29	26	45		60	35	22	32
T3/4	122	70	31	53		112	65	45	66
unknown	2	1	1	2		1	1	1	1
Disease stage*					p = 0.28^b					p = 0.18^b
I-II	17	10	3	5		17	10	3	4
III-IV	157	90	54	93		155	90	65	96
Unknown	1	1	1	2		1	1	0	0
HPV										p < 0.0001^b
Negative						150	87	16	24
Positive						9	5	44	65
Unknown						14	8	8	12
p16					p < 0.0001^b
Negative	150	86	9	16
Positive	16	9	44	76
Unknown	9	5	5	9

Abbreviations: RT radiotherapy, CT chemotherapy, EGFR epidermal growth factor
*International Union of Cancer Research 1982 classification; ^aANOVA; ^bchi square test.

ISSN: 1476-4598