HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS AND OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER: CURRENT CLINICAL-EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND PROGNOSTIC ASPECTS (REVIEW)
Keywords:
oropharyngeal cancer; human papillomavirus; HPV-associated cancer; epidemiology; carcinogenesis; p16; diagnosis; prognosis; personalized treatmentAbstract
In recent decades, oropharyngeal cancer has been characterized by a pronounced change in its epidemiological profile, mainly due to a significant increase in the proportion of human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated forms. Currently, HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is considered a distinct clinical and biological subtype of head and neck malignancies, differing from HPV-negative tumors in risk factors, morphological features, clinical behavior, and prognosis. This review summarizes current data on the prevalence of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, the biology of the virus and the mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis, clinical and morphological characteristics, and modern diagnostic approaches. Special attention is paid to the prognostic significance of HPV status, the role of viral genotype, viral load, and the physical status of HPV in shaping clinical outcomes, as well as to contemporary concepts of personalized treatment and therapy de-escalation. It has been shown that integration of clinical, morphological, and molecular characteristics of HPV allows for more accurate prognostic stratification of patients and optimization of therapeutic strategies. The necessity of region-oriented studies to clarify the epidemiological and clinical-prognostic features of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer is emphasized.
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