Background/Objectives: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a significant etiological factor in the development of oropharyngeal carcinogenesis. The detection of HPV in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) could be also crucial for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning. This study compares the efficacy and accuracy of two non-invasive sampling methods, oral rinse, and oral sponge, in detecting HPV DNA in patients with OSCC. Methods: Twenty-six patients with histologically confirmed OSCCs were recruited (M/F = 15/11; mean age 68.6). From each patient, two self-collected oral specimens, in the form of an oral rinse and a salivary sponge (i.e., LolliSponge), were collected, and subsequently processed, utilizing INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra II for HPV DNA detection; Results: Oral sponge detection showed high specificity (100%), sensitivity (85.7%), and accuracy (96.2%) compared to the oral rinse sampling, also demonstrating an area AUC for its diagnostic performance significantly greater than 0.5 (0.93 vs. 0.5,p< 0.0001). Conclusions: This study supports that oral sponge sampling offers valuable non-invasive alternatives for HPV detection in patients with OSCC, with the potentiality to facilitate saliva sampling in patients that may exhibit functional deficit due to OSCC. Further research is recommended to validate these findings in larger cohorts and to explore the integration of these methods into routine clinical practice for the management of HPV-related OSCC.
背景/目的：人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）是口咽部癌变的重要致病因素。在口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）中检测HPV对于诊断、预后及治疗规划亦至关重要。本研究比较了口腔漱洗液与口腔海绵两种无创采样方法在OSCC患者中检测HPV DNA的效能与准确性。方法：招募26例经组织学确诊的OSCC患者（男/女=15/11；平均年龄68.6岁）。采集每位患者通过口腔漱洗和唾液海绵（即LolliSponge）两种方式自行收集的口腔样本，随后使用INNO-LiPA HPV Genotyping Extra II试剂进行HPV DNA检测。结果：与口腔漱洗采样相比，口腔海绵检测显示出高特异性（100%）、敏感性（85.7%）和准确性（96.2%），其诊断性能的曲线下面积（AUC）显著大于0.5（0.93 vs. 0.5，p<0.0001）。结论：本研究证实口腔海绵采样为OSCC患者的HPV检测提供了有价值的无创替代方案，尤其对可能因OSCC导致功能缺损的患者具有简化唾液采样的潜力。建议开展进一步研究以在更大规模队列中验证这些发现，并探索将这些方法整合到HPV相关OSCC临床管理常规实践中的可行性。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家