A promising measure to prevent HPV-positive oral squamous cell carcinoma

The article “ HPV and oral squamous cell carcinoma: a review of HPV-positive OSCC and possible strategies for future” provides inspiring insights into the association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), as well as the possible strategies that we can adopt in future to minimize its health impact on the population [1]. This association has been widely recognized in recent years, particularly, for the high-risk HPV 16 and 18 strains. The cancer-inducing proteins E6 and E7 of HPV have been identified to be the main factors that in h ib it the tumor suppressors p53 and retinoblastoma protein (pRb), contributing to the development of OSCC. It also has been confirmed that HPV infection is associated with OSCC prognosis. Compared to HPV-negative OSCC patients, HPV-positive OSCC patients have a better prognosis [2].At present, there is no suitable OSCC HPV infection detection method approved by the health adm inistration.Potential methods include immunohistochemical detection of p16 expression, polymerase chain reaction(PCR), or in situ hybridization detection method, which are used to indirectly reflect the HPV infection status. Due to the ineffectiveness of these methods, there are no HPV infection status screening programs for the OSCC high-risk group. Therefore, developing effective HPV detection methods for the early detection and treatment of HPV-induced OSCC is of great significance.