Abstract
BackgroundNasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare form of cancer across the world except in certain areas such as Southern China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. NPC is considered a relatively radiosensitive tumor and patients diagnosed at early stages tend to survive longer compared to those with advanced disease. Given that early symptoms of NPC are non-specific and that the nasopharynx is relatively inaccessible, less invasive screening methods such as biomarker screening might be the key to improve NPC survival and management. A number of genes with their respective polymorphisms have been shown in past studies to be associated with survival of various cancers. hOGG1 and XPD genes encode for a DNA glycosylase and a DNA helicase respectively; both are proteins that are involved in DNA repair. ITGA2 is the alpha subunit of the transmembrane receptor integrin and is mainly responsible for cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interaction. TNF-α is a cytokine that is released by immune cells during inflammation.MethodsRestriction fragment length polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction (RFLP-PCR) was used to genotype all the aforementioned gene polymorphisms. Kaplan-Meier survival function, log-rank test and Cox regression were used to investigate the effect of gene polymorphisms on the all-cause survival of NPC.ResultsNPC cases carrying T/T genotype of ITGA2 C807T have poorer all-cause survival compared to those with C/C genotypes, with an adjusted HR of 2.06 (95% CI = 1.14–3.72) in individual model. The 5-year survival rate of C/C carriers was 55% compared to those with C/T and T/T where the survival rates were 50% and 43%, respectively.ConclusionThe finding from the present study showed that ITGA2 C807T polymorphism could be potentially useful as a prognostic biomarker for NPC. However, the prognostic value of ITGA2 C807T polymorphism has to be validated by well-designed further studies with larger patient numbers.
Highlights
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the commonest malignancy that originates from the nasopharynx
The finding from the present study showed that ITGA2 C807T polymorphism could be potentially useful as a prognostic biomarker for NPC
The prognostic value of ITGA2 C807T polymorphism has to be validated by well-designed further studies with larger patient numbers
Summary
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the commonest malignancy that originates from the nasopharynx. NPC is regarded as a rare form of cancer with varying disease prevalence across populations. In comparison with other carcinomas, NPC remains a relatively radiosensitive tumor [6]. Tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) classification is mainly used for determination of prognosis and treatment strategy in NPC [8]. Development of a new prognostic marker is imperative for the improvement of the current management of patients diagnosed with NPC. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare form of cancer across the world except in certain areas such as Southern China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. NPC is considered a relatively radiosensitive tumor and patients diagnosed at early stages tend to survive longer compared to those with advanced disease. TNF-α is a cytokine that is released by immune cells during inflammation
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