The burden of cervical cancer in Australia is about three times higher than that of oropharyngeal cancer (http://www.aihw.gov.au/cancer/data/datacubes/index.cfm).

However, the proportion of HPV-positive cancers potentially preventable in the oropharynx is higher than in the cervix since about 70% of cancers worldwide are caused by types 16 and 18 [11]. Data from different regions are needed to help inform current debates on whether HPV vaccination programmes should be extended to males. Published Australian data on HPV in head and neck cancer are limited to our earlier studies showing an HPV-positivity rate of 46% in tonsillar cancer [6] and [12]. We have determined the HPV-positivity rate and type distribution in a large Australian series of oropharyngeal cancers and used these data, and Australian cancer incidence data to quantify the burden of oropharyngeal cancer in males induced by HPV types targeted by the vaccine. Cancer incidence high throughput screening data were obtained from the National Cancer Statistics Clearing House database of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (www.aihw.gov.au/cancer/data/datacubes/index.cfm), which incorporates data from the eight Australian state and territory cancer registries. Combining the base of tongue (C01),

tonsil (C09) and other sites within the oropharynx (C10)—there were, on average, 367 new cases of oropharyngeal cancer per year in males 2001–2005 (age-standardised incidence rate 3.7 per 100,000 males) and 107 new cases in females (age-standardised incidence tuclazepam PF-02341066 research buy rate 1.04 per 100,000 females). Among new cases in males, 184 were in the tonsil (age-standardised incidence rate 1.85 per 100,000 males), 130 in the base of tongue (age-standardised incidence rate 1.31 per 100,000 males) and 53 at other sites (age-standardised incidence rate 0.54 per 100,000 males). The study cohort comprised 302 patients with primary AJCC Stage 1–4 oropharyngeal SCC treated at Sydney hospitals, Australia between 1987 and 2006; 228 were treated at The Royal Prince

Alfred Hospital, a tertiary referral centre for metropolitan and rural NSW. The study was approved by Sydney South West Area Health Service Ethics committees (Protocols X05-0308, CH62/6/2006-041, 2006/055). The oropharynx is defined as lateral wall (palatine tonsil, tonsillar fossa and tonsillar pillars), base of tongue, vallecula, soft palate, uvula, and posterior wall. Patient selection was based on the availability of tumour and clinicopathological data. Data were retrieved from the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute and Department of Radiation Oncology databases. Patient characteristics are summarised in Table 1. An HPV-positive tumour was defined as one testing positive for both HPV DNA and p16 to ensure virus causality [13]. Presence and type of HPV DNA were determined on two to six 4–5 μm sections of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour using an HPV E6-based multiplex real-time PCR assay (MT-PCR) modified from Stanley and Szewczuk [14].