RESPONSE: Re: Human Papillomavirus DNA and p53 Polymorphisms in Squamous Cell Carcinomas From Fanconi Anemia Patients

Extract

We reported a high prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and the absence of p53 mutations among 24 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from 25 Fanconi anemia patients ( 1 ) . By contrast, van Zeeburg et al. describe an unpublished series of five cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) from Fanconi anemia patients in which they identified mutations in p53 in four cases and the absence of detectable HPV DNA in all cases.

Several factors may explain the different results obtained in these two studies, the least persuasive of which are the small sample size in the van Zeeberg et al. study and methodologic differences between the studies, including the source of DNA (we used laser capture microdissected specimens), the oligonucleotide primers used for HPV DNA detection (we used highly efficient CPI and CPIIG consensus primers and validated all findings with real-time polymerase chain reaction), and stringency of analyses performed (our experiments were repeated at least three times) ( 2 , 3 ) .