Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. We briefly highlight the growing body of recent evidence linking unprotected oral sex with the development of some types of head and neck cancer in younger patients. These tumours appear to be increasing in incidence although the development of more sensitive methods of HPV detection may be a confounding factor.
The incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma HNSCC has been increasing over the last 30 years. It is the 6 th leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. Usually these cancers present with advanced metastatic disease causing high morbidity and mortality [ 1 , 2 ]. The most important risk factors so far identified are tobacco and alcohol. These appear to have a synergistic effect on the mucosal surfaces. Rodriguez et al.
Interestingly however, in the US the percentage of smokers reduced from This reduction in smoking exposure was also found in RTOG and calls into question: how much of the improvements in absolute survival observed in clinical trials over time are due to changes in therapy over time rather than being driven by social factors?
A recent study by Jerjes et al. Viral genes interfere with cell replication control mechanism. Many other viruses are known to predispose to tumours Table 1.
Viruses associated with tumors can be classified into two types depending on the nucleic acid in the viral genome and the nature of strategy to induce malignant transformation. The RNA tumor viruses retroviruses , when they infect cells, the viral RNA is copied into DNA by reverse transcription and the DNA is introduced into the host genome, where it persists and can be inherited by subsequent generation of cells.
