Identifying patients at high risk of recurrence by rebound of plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Abstract

6030 Background: About 10-30% of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) would develop disease recurrence following treatment. The optimal method to screen patients needing early medical intervention remains to be studied. We investigated the potential cut-off values of plasma EBV DNA in identifying patients at high risk of recurrence. Methods: From 2012 to 2020, 950 patients with detectable pre-treatment plasma EBV DNA and undetectable EBV DNA within 3 months after treatment were retrospectively reviewed. Survival outcomes of patients with different plasma EBV DNA rebound patterns were analyzed. The diagnostic performance of different cut-off values was evaluated in patients with ≥ 2 positive tests. Results: The number of patients with continuous negative plasma EBV DNA, only 1 positive test, and ≥ 2 positive tests during post-treatment surveillance were 747, 89, and 114, respectively. Patients with ≥ 2 positive plasma EBV DNA tests had worse PFS, LRRFS, and DMFS when compared with the ones with negative tests ( P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001) and only 1 positive test ( P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001). Superior PFS was observed for patients with negative tests compared to patients with only 1 positive test ( P = 0.006). Of 56 patients with more than 50 copies/ml plasma EBV DNA in both tests, 48 developed recurrences within 4 years. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of this cut-off for recurrence prediction were 35.8%, 99.0%, 85.7%, and 90.4, respectively. Then, the whole population was divided into the low-risk group (≤ 1 positive test), the intermediate-risk group (≥ 2 positive tests and at least one test had < 50 copies/ml) and the high-risk group (≥ 2 positive tests and both tests had ≥ 50 copies/ml). The PFS of the high-risk group was worse than that of the low-risk group ( P < 0.001) and the intermediate-risk group ( P < 0.001). The PFS of the high-risk patients with and without capecitabine or tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil before clinical confirmed relapse were 59.3% and 15.0% ( P = 0.004). Conclusions: NPC patients with ≥ 2 positive tests and ≥ 50 copies/ml in both tests during follow-up were at high risk of relapse. Early medical intervention could bring survival benefits to this cohort.