Affiliations: [a] Department of Laboratory Medicine, Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, Sichuan, China | [b] Department of Blood Transfusion, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Yuanshuai Huang, Department of Blood Transfusion, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, 25# Taiping Rd, Jiangyang District, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan, China. Tel.: +86 15808307577; Fax: +86 0830 3165741; E-mail: hys@live.cn
Abstract: Head and neck cancers are the sixth most common cancer in the world and the
predominant type of which consist of squamous cell carcinomas (head and neck
squamous cell carcinoma, HNSCC). Besides tobacco smoking and alcohol
consumption, human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the third leading
cause of the occurrence of HNSCC. The presence of HPV is a distinct group of
head and neck cancers exhibiting epidemiological, histopathological,
clinical and prognostic differences opposed to the typical HNSCC. HPV
positive HNSCC normally have a favorable prognosis compared with HPV
negative HNSCC, so biomarkers suitable for the early detection of HPV
positive HNSCC should be developed urgently to improve patient outcomes. HPV
DNA screening is sensitive, but probably not useful because of the high
prevalence of oral HPV and low risk of HNSCC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute
a class of small non-coding RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators
of gene expression. Since miRNAs have a role in the cancer development and
HPV status may affect the miRNAs expression pattern in HNSCC, the specific
of miRNAs' expression in HPV positive HNSCC may expound the role of HPV in
HNSCC and be new biomarkers for the early detection of HNSCC. More
excitingly, saliva as proximal biofluid in the context of HNSCC contains a
good deal of miRNAs. These miRNAs are stabile and may be suitable for
noninvasive biomarkers of HNSCC.
Keywords: Head and neck cancers, microRNAs, human papilloma virus, biomarkers, saliva
