EGFR, p53, Cox-2 and Bcl-2 Expression in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Their Potential Clinical Implication

Chae, Soo Min; Lee, Youn Soo; Kim, Yeon Sil; Roh, Kwang Won; Chung, Su Mi; Yoon, Sei Chul; Jang, Hong Seok

Abstract

PURPOSE
To evaluate the relationship between the expression of EGFR, p53, Cox-2, Bcl-2 and the clinical parameters of NPC (nasopharyngeal carcinoma) patients treated with radiotherapy with/without chemotherapy, and to determine if these could be used as a biologic marker.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study retrospectively examined 75 NPC patients who were pathologically diagnosed at St. Mary's Hospital and Kangnam St Mary's Hospital from March 1988 to August 2002 and treated with radiotherapy with/without chemotherapy. The levels of EGFR, p53, Cox-2, and Bcl-2 expression were determined immunohistochemically. The relationship between the levels of EGFR, p53, Cox-2 and Bcl-2 expression and the H-E staining findings including the WHO classification, TNM stage, tumor response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, disease free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) was analyzed.
RESULTS
At a median follow up of 50.8 months (range: 5.5~201 months), the 3 years OS rate and PFS rate were 68.7% and 68.2%, respectively. The five year OS rate and PFS rate were 53.5% and 51.1%, respectively. The median OS duration and PFS duration were 85.5 months and 61.1 months, respectively. The WHO classification correlated with the complete response rate, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. The expression of p53 was associated with increased mitosis and poor overall survival. The expression of Bcl-2 correlated with the DFS and WHO classification. The expression of Cox-2 correlated with a poor overall survival and response rate in the lymph node. However, EGFR was not correlated with any factors.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that the expression of p53, Cox-2, Bcl-2 plays role in predicting prognostic factors for NPC treated with radiotherapy with/without chemotherapy. However, further study on a larger number of patients will be needed to identify more useful biomarkers of NPC.