Oral potentially malignant disorders in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationships between oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and clinically diagnosed potentially malignant diseases of the oral cavity.
Methods. The study included 62 patients with OPSCC T1-4N0-3M0 who were treated at the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center of Oncology and Radiology and its
Tashkent city and Samarkand regional branches from 2015 to 2020. Expression was studied using immunohistochemistry proteins p16INK4a, PD-L1 and p53W/M (W - wild type; M - mutant type) in formalinfixed and paraffin-embedded tumor samples. In these patients, the natural history of clinically diagnosed OPMDs and their Pearson correlation with molecular markers was assessed.
Results. 9.7 % (6 / 62) of patients were diagnosed with OPMDs, and 14.5 % (9/62) were diagnosed with oral papillomas. All OPMDs patterns belong to the HPV-negative group, and papillomas belong to
the HPV-positive group (p < 0.001). OPMDs have a low positive correlation with PD-L1 (p = 0.719), a moderate positive correlation with p53M (p = 0.251), a moderate positive correlation with male gender
(p = 0.023) and a low positive correlation with age (p = 0.796). Papilloma has a strong positive correlation with positive HPV status (p<0.001), a moderate positive correlation with p53W (p = 0.002) and a low
positive correlation with male gender (p = 0.512).
Conclusion. Assessing the expression of p16INK4a/PD-L1/p53W/p53M proteins in OPMDs tissues or clinically normal oral mucosa may be a useful framework for shaping the risk of developing OPSCC.

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