The aims of this study were to evaluate whether HPV infection has a prognostic role in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent oncological treatment and also to compare the heat shock proteins (Hsp) 90, 27 and 16.2 and growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor (GHRH-R) expression patterns of the pre-treatment tumor biopsies with the HPV status and with the oncological response. Pre-treatment tumor biopsies of 74 patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were processed retrospectively. The presence of HPV was detected by chromogenic in situ hybridization. Hsp and GHRH-R expressions were determined using immunohistochemistry. Following neoadjuvant or definitive radiochemotherapy, the patients were restaged according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. The correlation between the HPV status, response to treatment and Hsp and GHRH-R expressions were evaluated. Fourteen (19%) patients were HPV-positive. These patients were more likely to respond poorly to multimodal therapy (71.4% were non-responders vs. 28.6% responders) and had shorter survival compared to HPV-negative patients (mean survival of 8 months vs. 11 months), although the difference was not significant. A significantly higher number of HPV-positive patients expressed Hsp 90 and 16.2 at high levels (93 and 79%, respectively) than at low levels (Chi-Square p = 0.019 and p = 0.031). Higher levels of Hsp expressions were associated with poorer response to therapy and worse overall survival. No correlation was found between GHRH-R expression and the HPV status, nor between GHRH-R expression and the treatment response of the examined samples. We found that HPV infection was associated with poor response to oncological treatment and decreased overall survival, and therefore proved to be a negative prognostic factor in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. There was a linear correlation between levels of Hsp 90 and 16.2 expression and HPV positivity.

The aim of our study was to compare the characteristics and time to initial physician contact in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at a large Hungarian cancer center. This was a retrospective study of patients 18 years or older presenting at the regional cancer center of Pécs Clinical Center with HNSCC between 1 January 2017, and 15 March 2020 (the pre-COVID-19 period) and between 16 March 2020, and 13 May 2021 (the COVID-19 period). Demographic and clinical data were collected, and the time between initial symptom onset and initial physician contact (TTP) was determined. Descriptive and exploratory statistical analyses were performed. On average, the number of patients diagnosed with HNSCC per month during the pandemic decreased by 12.4% compared with the pre-COVID-19 period. There was a significant increase in stage I and stage II cancers (from 15.9% to 20.3% and from 12.2% to 13.8%, respectively; p < 0.001); a decrease in stage III and IVa,c cancers; and a significant increase in stage IVb cancers (from 6% to 19.9%; p < 0.001) during the pandemic. The median TTP increased during the pandemic from 43 to 61 days (p = 0.032). To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effect of COVID-19 on patients with HNSCC in the Central–Eastern European region. We found a bidirectional shift in cancer stages and increased TTP during the pandemic. Our findings highlight the necessity for more nuanced analyses of the effects of COVID-19.