World Pathology Week

Biography

Adoke Kasimu Umar is a young consultant Pathologist from a resource poor setting in Nigeria with special interest in molecular Pathology and translational medicine. He has published more than 20 papers in reputable local and international journals

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eight most common cancers worldwide and the majority of HNSCC occur in the oral cavity.. Tobacco and alcohol are the major risk factors in addition to infection by human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV-16 is the most common high risk HPV type in oropharyngeal cancers. The prevalence of HPV in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma is 4-6% with studies showing improved prognosis for HPV-associated HNSCC compare with HPV-negative cancers. Tumour budding at the invasive front has been reported as a promising prognosticator in HNSCC, in this report we did a one year prospective study of twelve patients with oral cancers with the use of two immunohistochemical stains.

Methods

The clinical details of sex, age, site distribution, social habits and sexual partners were collected by means of a structured proforma. Tissue sections were cut at 3μm and mounted on glass slides processed with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E). P16 immunohistochemical stains were used for HPV infection while AE1/AE3 was used for tumour budding identification. DB biotech (Slovakia) protocol was used in both stains. All statistics were calculated using IBM SPSS version 21.

 

 

 

Results

The age range of occurrence of oral SCC was 31-80±21.8 years. The buccal mucosa, palate and tongue were the commonest site for squamous cell carcinoma with four (33%), Six (50%) and two (16.7%) cases respectively. Six (50%) of the 12 cases of squamous cell carcinoma were positive for p16 IHC stain.  Most of these patients, four (33%) with p16 positive oral SCC were less than 45 years old while, the remaining two (16.7%) were above 80 years. Tumour budding was seen in seven (58.3%) of these patients. There is significant association between tumour budding and Squamous cell carcinoma with those with tumour buds associated with poor prognosis.

Conclusion

HPV 16 is the most common cause of oral SCC in our environment with tendency to affect young adults. Those with tumour buds tend to have poor overall survival.