ReviewThe oncologist2017
p16, HPV, and Cetuximab: What Is the Evidence?
Review in The oncologist, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- C-terminal interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1α) overexpression drives EMT and a vulnerability to ferroptosis in HNSCC.Redox biology · 2026Article
- Association Between Recurrence of High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of the Uterine Cervix and p16, C-myc and PIK3CA Proteins-A Single-center Retrospective Study.Cell biochemistry and biophysics · 2025Article
- Study on pathological factors affecting the sensitivity of neoadjuvant therapy in hypopharyngeal cancer.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2025Article
- Practical Consensus Guidelines on the Use of Cetuximab in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC).South Asian journal of cancer · 2025Article
- Chemotherapy-free innovations in locally advanced head and neck cancer: a comprehensive review.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- A phase 1 study of concurrent cabozantinib and cetuximab in recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer.Oral oncology · 2024Article
- Potential association of the prognostic index and survival in patients with p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2021Article
- Bintrafusp alfa, a bifunctional fusion protein targeting TGF-β and PD-L1, in advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: results from a phase I cohort.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2020Article
- Undifferentiated carcinoma of the oral tongue treated with cetuximab: A case report.Molecular and clinical oncology · 2019Article
- Cetuximab-Containing Combinations in Locally Advanced and Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. It has recently been appreciated that human papillomavirus (HPV) status (or p16 status, which is a frequently used surrogate for HPV status) is prognostic for oropharyngeal SCCHN. Here, we review and contextualize existing p16 and HPV data, focusing on the cetuximab registration trials in previously untreated, locoregionally advanced, nonmetastatic SCCHN (LA SCCHN) and in recurrent and/or metastatic SCCHN (R/M SCCHN): the IMCL-9815 and EXTREME clinical trials, respectively. Taken together, the available data suggest that, while p16 and HPV are prognostic biomarkers in patients with LA SCCHN and R/M SCCHN, it could not be shown that they are predictive for the outcomes of the described cetuximab-containing trial regimens. Consequently, although HPV status provides prognostic information, it is not shown to predict therapy response, and so is not helpful for assigning first-line therapy in patients with SCCHN. In addition, we discuss assays currently used to assess p16 and HPV status, as well as the differentiation between these two biomarkers. Ultimately, we believe HPV E6/E7 polymerase chain reaction-based mRNA testing may represent the most informative technique for assessing HPV status in patients with SCCHN. While p16 is a valid surrogate for HPV status in oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC), there is a higher risk of discordance between p16 and HPV status in non-OPC SCCHN. Collectively, these discussions hold key implications for the clinical management of SCCHN. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Human papillomavirus (HPV) status (or its commonly utilized surrogate p16) is a known prognostic biomarker in oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). We evaluated implications of the available evidence, including cetuximab registration trials in previously untreated locoregionally advanced (LA) SCCHN and recurrent and/or metastatic (R/M) SCCHN. We conclude that, although p16 and HPV are prognostic biomarkers for both LA and R/M SCCHN, they have not been shown to be predictive of response to the described cetuximab-containing regimens for either indication. Thus, current evidence suggests that benefits of cetuximab are observed in both p16-/HPV-positive and -negative SCCHN.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.