Human papillomavirus associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: does the expression of cancer stem cell markers influence overall survival?

Introduction: 5-Year-overall survival is quoted to be significant better in human papillomavirus (hpv) associated head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (hnscc) than in hnscc related to alcohol and tobacco consumption. An explanation for these results could be that adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation are resulting in higher response rates to hnscc with hpv positive carcinogenesis. On the other hand the hallmarks of cancer, including the cancer stem cell (csc) theory could be different in hpv associated hnscc. In the past only few investigations were done in this field of molecular oncology and were set into correlation to the clinical outcome of the patients. To the detection of hpv infection it is mentioned that staining of p16 shows higher signals than other hpv correlated proteins are doing.