Human papillomavirus and survival of sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is detectable in a subset of sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma (SNSCC), but the impact on patient outcomes is presently unclear due to a modest number of studies with limited statistical power. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to better clarify this relationship. A PubMed search was conducted to identify all studies reporting on overall (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) for SNSCC by HPV status. Hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were extracted or, when not provided, indirectly estimated from each manuscript. Summary survival curves for 5-year OS and estimating survival probability by HPV status at pre-specified time intervals from study-specific Kaplan-Meier curves generated 2-year DFS. Log HRs and log CIs were combined across studies to generate summary estimates and a corresponding 95% CIs for OS and DFS. We identified ten unique studies reporting on OS and four for DFS. We observed a significant association between HPV and OS (summary HR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.38–0.70) with relatively low heterogeneity between studies. These results indicate that HPV is a significant predictor of more favorable survival for SNSCC, and thus may be a useful biomarker for prognostication and, potentially, treatment modulation.