Possible Blood Test for Oral Cancer Caused by HPV?

There might be a blood test which can possibly predict individuals who may develop oral cancer caused by HPV years before it happens. HPV, an abbreviation for human papilloma virus, encompasses over 100 different strains among which only a few can cause problems in humans. Specifically, HPV 16 can lead to cervical cancer in woman and oral cancer in both genders.

HPV triggered oral cancer is also the most common cause of oral cancer now exceeding even smoking and drinking alcohol.

Unlike HPV that causes cervical cancer which can be screened for by pap smears in women, there's currently no good screening test to look for HPV that might cause oral cancer.

However, that's not to say that researchers aren't busy looking for just such a test...

In June 2013, researchers published a possible blood test that might predict those individuals at risk for developing HPV oral cancer.

By analyzing blood samples taken from 638 patients with head and neck cancers, they discovered that antibodies against HPV16 E6 was present in pre-diagnostic samples for 34.8% of patients with oropharyngeal cancer and 0.6% of controls (healthy patients without cancer). Furthermore, HPV16 E6 was NOT associated with other cancer sites. The increased risk of oropharyngeal cancer among HPV16 E6 seropositive participants was independent of time between blood collection and diagnosis and was observed more than 10 years before diagnosis.

Now I should state that HPV16 E6, which is actually a gene found in the virus, only accounted for 34.8% of patients. It bears repeating... it was positive only 34.8% of the time. In other words, this test predicted oral cancer only one out of every 3 patients who actually developed cancer.

As such, it is not a very specific test... ideally, you want a number as close to 100% as possible, otherwise patients who test negative to this blood test may falsely think they are not at risk.

Now, the other problem is what if a patient DOES test positive to HPV16 E6?

Does that mean such patients need to undergo routine fiberoptic endoscopy screening examinations every few months or years? Are biopsies required or not if visual examination appears normal? If biopsies are required, how often and from where? After all, oral cancer encompasses the tongue, tonsil, pharynx, larynx, supraglottis, palate, buccal mucosa, etc, etc, etc. That's a lot of biopsies...

Coincident with the development of a good blood test is the need for research to develop a protocol of what to do with the results of such test information.

Reference:
Evaluation of Human Papillomavirus Antibodies and Risk of Subsequent Head and Neck Cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. Published online before print June 17, 2013, doi: 10.1200/JCO.2012.47.2738