Interplay between EBERS and P27 Tumor Suppressor Proteins in Molecular Transformation of Nasopharyngeal and Sinonasal Carcinomas

Abstract

Epstein barr viruses are well known to induce tumorigenesis in proliferative epithelial tissues. Many studies have implicated EBV in the progression of benign and malignant head and neck tumors by affecting cell cycle proteins expression. This study designed to determine the rates of existential concomitance of EbV in relation to P27 gene expression in tissues from nasopharyngeal and sinonasal lesions. The study included a total number of (183) formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks including 35 inflammatory nasal polyps (INP), 35 sinonasal papillomas (SNP), 65 nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC), 18 sinonasal carcinomas (SNC) as well as 30 nasal healthy tissues as control group. After histopathological confirmatory re-examination, a Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization technique (CISH) for EbV-EbERs localization and immunohistochemistry technique (IHC) for p27 expression were performed. The positivity percentages of EBV-EBERs detection in NPC and SNC carcinoma tissues were (86.2% and 88.9%, respectively) while it was (57.1%) in SNP and INP. These results were with highly significant differences (P<0.01). The positively percentages of p27-IHC were (58.5% in NPC, 66.7% in SNC, 51.4% in SNP and 60% in INP) tissues in comparison to control healthy tissues in which only (3.3%) noticed as positive. The statistical analysis shows highly significant differences (P<0.01).