Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important etiological factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Standard treatment of HPV-positive tumors with platinum-based radio(chemo)therapy results in a better outcome than in HPV-negative tumors. Electrochemotherapy is becoming an increasingly recognized mode of treatment in different cancers; thus, its use in the management of head and neck SCC is of considerable interest. However, response to electrochemotherapy according to HPV status of the tumors has not been evaluated yet. Thus, our aim was to compare the effect of electrochemotherapy with cisplatin or bleomycin between HPV-negative and HPV-positive human pharyngeal SCC derived cell lines and tumor models.

HPV-positive cells and tumors were found to be more sensitive to electrochemotherapy with cisplatin than HPV-negative ones, whereas sensitivity to electrochemotherapy with bleomycin was similar irrespective of the HPV status. The higher sensitivity of HPV-positive cells and tumors to electrochemotherapy with cisplatin is likely due to the higher level and slower repair of DNA damage. In HPV-negative tumors, a higher number of complete responses was recorded after bleomycin-based rather than cisplatin-based electrochemotherapy, while in HPV-positive tumors electrochemotherapy with cisplatin was more effective.

人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）是头颈部鳞状细胞癌（SCC）的重要病因。与基于HPV阴性的肿瘤相比，以铂为基础的放射（化学）疗法对HPV阳性的肿瘤进行标准治疗可获得更好的预后。电化学疗法已成为越来越多的公认的不同癌症治疗方式。因此，其在头颈SCC管理中的用途引起了极大的兴趣。然而，尚未评估根据肿瘤的HPV状态对电化学疗法的反应。因此，我们的目的是比较HPV阴性和HPV阳性的人咽SCC衍生细胞系和肿瘤模型之间用顺铂或博来霉素进行电化学疗法的效果。

发现HPV阳性细胞和肿瘤对顺铂电化学疗法的敏感性比对HPV阴性细胞和肿瘤的敏感性高，而对博来霉素电化学疗法的敏感性与HPV状况无关。HPV阳性细胞和肿瘤对顺铂电化学疗法的敏感性更高，这可能是由于DNA损伤的水平较高且修复较慢。在HPV阴性肿瘤中，基于博来霉素而不是基于顺铂的电化学疗法记录了更多的完全应答，而在HPV阳性肿瘤中，使用顺铂的电化学疗法更有效。