The results of epidemiological, molecular biological and immunological studies suggest that human papillomaviruses (HPV) are most likely etiologically involved in some types of head and neck carcinomas. In the Czech Republic no research on the association of HPV and head and neck cancer has been done so far. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and a type of HPV DNA in tissue specimens of oropharyngeal and oral cancer cases and to find out, whether clinical and epidemiological features suchas gender, age, exposure to most frequent risk factors, sexual behavior, localization and extent of tumor could be related to the presence of HPV. In the group of patients as well as in controls the presence of HPV DNA was also determined in cytological material from oral rinses and the presence of HPV-specific antibodies in sera was ascertained. HPV DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot hybridization, typing was performed using nucleotide DNA sequencing. Presence of HPV-specific antibodies in sera was carried out by ELISA. HPV DNA was detected in 69% of 42 tumor samples tested. Sixty four percent of the positive tumors contained HPV16. Non-smokers and non-drinkers had higher prevalence of HPV DNA. HPV DNA presence was not related to age, gender, and sexual behavior, size of tumor and presence of regional metastases. Statistically significant correlation was found among the presence of HPV DNA in the tumor tissue, in the cytological specimen from oral rinses and in the presence of HPV-specific antibodies. The level of antibodies decreased after successful treatment. This data suggest that HPV-specific antibodiesmight serve as a specific marker of the recurrence of the disease during the follow-up of patients. Further longitudinal study will also elucidate the possible impact of HPV DNA presence on prognosis of the disease.

        Key words: oropharyngeal carcinoma, epidemiology, HPV, antibodies.