TP53 and oropharynx cancer: In support of this hypothesis, Dasgupta et al. (43), reported that the oncogene E6 of HPV 16, etiologically associated with oropharyngeal cancers (64), increases hBD-3 mRNA and peptide expression in infected oral epithelial cells and that p53, an important tumor suppressor inhibited by E6 (65), blocks hBD-3 expression.