Genomic copy number variations characterize the prognosis of both P16-positive and P16-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma after curative resection

Abstract

Recently increasing high-risk HPV+ OSCC exhibits unique clinical and molecular characteristics compared to HPV-unrelated (HPV-) counterpart. Genomic copy number variations (CNVs), unique in HPV+ OSCCs, and their role for the prognosis prediction remains poorly studied. Here, we analyzed the distinct genomic copy number variations (CNVs) in human papillomavirus-related (HPV+) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and their role as a prognosticator after curative resection. For 58 consecutive, Korean OSCC patients that underwent surgerybased treatmentwithmedian 10 years of follow-up,HPV-related markers, and genome-wide CNV analysis were analyzed. Clinical associations between the CNV profile and survival analyses were followed. P16 expression predicted the overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR]=0.27, confidence interval [CI]: 0.39-0.80, P=0.0006) better than HPV L1 PCR (HR=0.83, CI: 0.66-1.29, P=0.64), smoking, or other variables. Although the overall number of CNVs was not significantly different, 30 loci showed unique CNV patterns between the p16+ and p16+ groups. A region containing PRDM2 was amplified only in the p16+group,whereas EGFR and 11q13.3 showed increased amplification in p16+counterpart. Loss of a locus containing FGF18 led to aworse, but gain of region including CDK10 and RAD18 led to better overall survival (OS) in all OSCC patients. Meanwhile, subgroup analysis of p16+OSCC revealed that amplification of regions harboring HRAS and loss of locus bearing KDR led to better OS. P16+ OSCC exhibit distinct CNV patterns compared with p16+ counterpart. Specific patterns of CNVs predict better survival, especially in p16+ OSCC. This might allow better insights of the outcome after curative resection for HPV+ and HPV+ OSCC