A rapidly growing human papillomavirus-positive oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma in a 21-year old female: A case report

Oncology Letters
Ebenezer O AppahDana R Marshall

Abstract

Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) has a median age at diagnosis of 62 years. The incidence of OTSCC in young adults has been increasing, and the reason is unclear. The present study describes a case, and molecular analysis, of OTSCC in a 21-year-old female. Clinical and pathological information were collected from medical records. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy tissue from the patient was reassessed using standard hematoxylin & eosin staining, and immunohistochemistry was used to assess the expression of cellular p16, MutL homolog (MLH)1, MLH2, MutS homolog 6 (MSH6) and PMS1 homolog 2 (PMS2). The human papilloma virus (HPV) genome was detected by PCR analysis of the extracted DNA. The young age of the patient with OTSCC was unusual. The original pathology report indicated koilocytotic atypia, a cellular abnormality associated with HPV. Although HPV-positive oral cancer tends to occur in 'younger' individuals, 21 years is unusual. The confirmation of biologically active HPV in the tumor was obtained via the observation of strong positive staining for cellular p16. The patient described a maternal family cluster of rare cancer types, thus the possibility that this rapidly growing cancer resulted from HPV infect...Continue Reading

Methods Mentioned

BETA
biopsy
dissection
PCR

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