A high and increasing HPV prevalence in tonsillar cancers in Eastern Denmark, 2000-2010: The largest registry-based study to date

The aim was to explore whether the incidence of tonsillar squamous cell carcinomas (TSCCs) increased in Eastern Denmark, 2000-2010, and whether human papillomavirus (HPV) could explain the increase, and to assess the association of HPV prevalence with gender, age, and origin (i.e., the certainty of tonsillar tumor origin). We applied HPV DNA PCR and p16 immunohistochemistry to all TSCCs registered in the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group (DAHANCA) and in the Danish Pathology Data Bank (n=632). Pathologists reviewed and subdivided the tumors into two groups: specified and nonspecified TSCCs. Approximately 10% of HPV-positive tumors was genotyped by amplicon next-generation sequencing. The overall crude incidence of TSCCs increased significantly (2.7% per year) and was explained by an increasing incidence of HPV-positive TSCCs (4.9% per year). The overall HPV prevalence was 58%, with HPV16 being the predominant HPV type. In multivariate analysis, the HPV prevalence was associated with age (<55 vs. >60 years) (OR, 1.72; 95% CI 1.13-2.63) and origin (nonspecified vs. specified TSCCs) (OR, 0.15; 95% CI 0.11-0.22). The association of HPV prevalence with origin increased over time in specified TSCCs (OR per year, 1.10; 95% CI 1.01-1.19), whereas no change over time was observed among nonspecified TSCCs (OR per year, 0.99; 95% CI 0.90-1.08). In conclusion, the observed increase in the number of HPV-positive TSCCs can explain the increasing number of TSCCs in Eastern Denmark, 2000-2010. HPV prevalence was associated with younger age (<55 years) and a high certainty of tonsillar tumor origin. What's new? Are throat cancers on the rise in Denmark, as in other Western populations? These authors analyzed samples from the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group, making this the largest non-selected cohort of tonsillar cancer cases studied to date. They found that during the years 2000-2010, the rate of tonsillar cancer increased, and that HPV could be to blame. The incidence of HPV-positive cancers rose over the study period, with most of the HPV-positive cancers harboring HPV-16. When they classified the tumors by whether they originated in the tonsillar tissue, they found that tumor origin was the strongest predictor of HPV status; specified tonsillar tumors contained HPV more often than those appearing to have originated elsewhere.