The radiologic criteria that should be used for assessment of RLN metastases in NPC patients are nodes with a minimal axial diameter 6 mm or larger, any node with central necrosis, groups of two or more RLNs, or any medial RLN; these criteria may be useful in tumor staging and treatment planning.

Background: We retrospectively compared the long-term efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) regimens (docetaxel vs. cisplatin), total dose intensity of cisplatin (> 200 vs. ≤ 200 mg/m²) and pretreatment plasma levels of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and investigated the prognostic factors. Methods: We enrolled 214 patients diagnosed with NPC and treated with CCRT. 41 patients received weekly docetaxel and 173 weekly cisplatin. 62 received cumulative cisplatin of ≤ 200 mg/m² and 111, > 200 mg/m². Pretreatment levels of EBV DNA were available for 155 patients. Results: Patients receiving concurrent weekly docetaxel and cisplatin had similar 5-year rates for overall survival (OS) (p = 0.306), progression-free survival (PFS) (p = 0.133), distant failure-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.110), and locoregional failure-free survival (LFS) (p = 0.452). Cumulative cisplatin of > 200 mg/m² improved the 5-year rates of PFS (p = 0.018) and DFS (p = 0.042) significantly in comparison with cumulative cisplatin of ≤ 200 mg/m². EBV DNA levels of ≥ 1,500 copies/ml was closely associated with poor DFS (p = 0.011), PFS (p = 0.006), and OS (p = 0.004). Conclusions: Weekly cisplatin was well tolerated in CCRT, during which cumulative cisplatin of > 200 mg/m² improved PFS and DFS. The long-term efficacy of concurrent docetaxel was similar to that of concurrent cisplatin. The EBV DNA level was the most significant prognostic factor.

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Masticator space involvement in nasopharyngeal carcinoma should be graded as medial (stage T2 disease) or lateral (stage T4 disease). This can facilitate staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and may be a suitable prognostic indicator of survival.

In this retrospective study, the correlation between pre- and post-treatment plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA and circulating immune subsets as well as the prognostic implications was investigated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Patients (n=356) were diagnosed and received comprehensive treatment at the First People's Hospital of Foshan from 2006 to 2010. Pre- and post-treatment plasma EBV DNA load and circulating immune subsets (percentage of CD3+ T cell, CD3+ CD4+ T cells, CD3+ CD8+ T cells, CD19+ B cells and CD56+ NK cells) were analyzed by real-time PCR and flow cytometry. Patient age correlated negatively with CD3+ T cells (r=-0.264, P=0.001) and positively with CD56+ NK cells (r=0.272, P=0.001). Pre-treatment plasma EBV DNA correlated negatively with CD19+ B cells (r=-0.223, P=0.009) and CD4/CD8 ratio (r=-0.177, P=0.047). Patients with low CD19+ B cell had poorer 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) (66.6 vs. 81.8%, P=0.036) and 5-year overall survival (OS) (70.5 vs. 81.5%, P=0.097) than patients with high CD19+ B cells. Low CD19+ B cells was identified as a negative prognostic factor for 5-year PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.487; P=0.040), but not for 5-year OS (HR 0.550; P=0.102) in multivariate analysis. Post-treatment plasma EBV DNA was the most important prognostic factor for 5-year PFS (HR 2.983; P=0.006) and 5-year OS (HR 3.927; P<0.001). This study demonstrates the clinical value of circulating CD19+ B cell measurements in NPC patients.

Purpose. To explore the potential of diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods and Materials. Ninety-two consecutive patients with NPC who underwent three cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. DW and anatomical MRI were performed before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to radiotherapy. Pretreatment ADCs and percentage increases in ADC after chemotherapy were calculated for the primary lesions and metastatic adenopathies. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to select optimal pretreatment ADCs. Results. Pretreatment mean ADCs were significantly lower for responders than for nonresponders (primary lesions, P = 0.012; metastatic adenopathies, P = 0.013). Mean percentage increases in ADC were higher for responders than for nonresponders (primary lesions, P = 0.008; metastatic adenopathies, P < 0.001). The optimal pretreatment primary lesion and metastatic adenopathy ADCs for differentiating responders from nonresponders were 0.897 × 10−3 mm2/sec and 1.031 × 10−3 mm2/sec, respectively. Conclusions. NPC patients with low pretreatment ADCs tend to respond better to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Pretreatment ADCs could be used as a new pretreatment imaging biomarker of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

An important challenge in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) research is to develop effective predictors of tumor recurrence following treatment to determine whether immediate adjuvant therapy is necessary. We retrospectively analyzed archived specimens collected from 45 patients with paired samples of primary NPC (pNPC) and recurrent NPC (rNPC). Clinical samples were collected from the Cancer Center Databases of the First People’s Hospital of Foshan and Shantou Central Hospital (affiliates of Sun Yat-Sen University) between 2001 and 2012. Expression levels of phosphor-Stat3 (p-Stat3), signalosome complex subunit 5 (Jab1/Csn5), Akt1, C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), Ki-67, and apoptosis were determined by immunohistochemistry in pNPC and rNPC samples from the same patients. Differences in these markers between the short-term interval to recurrence (ITR) group (ITR <18 months) and long-term ITR group (ITR ≥18 months) were further analyzed. In Cox’s regression analysis, the ITR was significantly associated as an independent-negative prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.211; 95% confidence interval, 0.053–0.841; P=0.027). p-Stat3 was increased in the short-term ITR group (ITR <18 months) and tended to be lower in the long-term ITR group (ITR ≥18 months). In the short-term ITR group, nuclear Akt expression was significantly increased in paired rNPC (P=0.028). In the long-term ITR group, the expression of nuclear Jab1/Csn5 (P=0.047) and assessment of apoptosis measured with TdT-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) (P=0.003) was significantly increased in paired rNPC. The results suggest that differences between short- and long-term ITR may predict outcome in rNPC. Furthermore, the overexpression of Jab1/Csn5 and Akt may contribute to the carcinogenesis of rNPC, and Akt seems to promote the progression of short-term ITR. Intra-individual changes of Jab1/Csn5, Akt, and TUNEL may help to identify short-term ITR.