J Korean Soc Ther Radiol Oncol.  2010 Jun;28(2):57-63. 10.3857/jkstro.2010.28.2.57.

Immunohistochemical Study to Evaluate the Prognostic Significance of Four Biomolecular Markers in Radiotherapy of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

• Kim YJ
• Lee SH
• Wu HG
• Go H
• Jeon YK

• KMID: 1460152
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3857/jkstro.2010.28.2.57

Abstract

PURPOSE
We performed an immunohistochemical study with pre-treatment biopsy specimens to evaluate the prognostic significance of four biomolecular markers which can be used as a predictive assay for radiotherapy (RT) treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
From January 1998 through December 2006, 68 patients were histologically diagnosed as non-metastatic NPC and treated by RT. Only 38 patients had the paraffin block for the immunohistochemical study. Thirty-one patients had undifferentiated carcinoma and 7 patients had squamous cell carcinoma. Thirty-two patients (84%) had advanced stage NPC (2002 AJCC Stage III~IV). Immunohistochemical staining was performed for Met, COX-2, nm23-H1, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression using routine methods.
RESULTS
The median follow-up time was 30 months (range, 11 to 83 months) for all patients, and 39 months (range, 19 to 83 months) for surviving patients. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of the patients with high Met extent (> or =50%) was significantly lower than that of the patients with low Met extent (48% vs. 84%, p=0.02). In addition, Met extent was also a significant prognostic factor in multivariate analysis (p=0.01). No correlation was observed between Met extent and T stage, N stage, stage group, gender, age, and the response to chemotherapy or RT. Met extent showed moderate correlation with COX-2 expression (Pearson coefficient 0.496, p<0.01), but COX-2 expression did not affect OS. Neither nm23-H1 or EGFR expression was a prognostic factor for OS in this study.
CONCLUSION
High Met extent (> or =50%) might be an independent prognostic factor that predicts poor OS in NPC treated with RT.

Keyword

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Radiotherapy; Prognostic factor; Immunohistochemical staining; Met

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Carcinoma
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Multivariate Analysis
Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms
Paraffin
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms
Paraffin
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor