Forty-six cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with 50 Gy radiotherapy plus hematoporphyrin derivative: 20 years of follow-up and outcomes from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center

Safety and Effectiveness of De-escalated Radiation Dose in T1-3 Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Propensity Matched Analysis

Backgrounds: With the excellent local control in T1 to T3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), the importance of toxicities is increasingly being recognised. This retrospective propensity score analysis sought to assess whether moderate dose reduction compromised long-term outcome compared with standard dose in T1-3 NPCs.

Materials and Methods: A total of 266 patients (67 female, 199 male) with a median age of 50 years between June 2011 and June 2015 were analysed. All were treated with IMRT, with or without systemic chemotherapy. The prescription radiation dose to gross tumor is 70Gy/2.12Gy/33F in our institution.

Results: With a median follow-up time of 50 months, the 5-year loco-regional failure-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS) were 93.5% and 81.8%, respectively. 32 patients received radiation dose less than prescription dose, with a median dose of 63.6Gy (53-67Gy). Another 234 patients received exactly the prescription dose of 70Gy. Propensity scores were computed (32 patients treated with de-escalated dose and 64 patients with standard dose), there was no significant difference in 5-year LRFS and 5-year OS between the two groups (92.5% and 91.7% with standard dose; 82.1% and 85.7% with de-escalation dose; p=0.863 for LRFS and 0.869 for OS). No independent prognostic factor was associated with loco-regional failure in univariate analysis.

Conclusions: T1-3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma presenting with superior locoregional control, a moderately reduced dose (about 10%) delivered with IMRT resulted in comparable prognosis to those with prescription dose of 70Gy.

Seroprevalence of IgA anti Epstein-Barr virus is high among family members of nasopharyngeal cancer patients and individuals presenting with chronic complaints in head and neck area

Epstein-Barr (EBV) infection and presence of a nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) case in the family increases the risk of developing NPC. Aberrant anti-EBV immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies (EBV-IgA) may be present in the sera of non-cancer individuals and predict NPC. Limited studies report the presence of EBV-IgA antibodies within non-cancer individuals in Indonesia where the disease is prevalent. This study aimed at exploring whether EBV-IgA was found more frequently among first degree relatives of NPC patients and individuals presenting with chronic symptoms in the head and neck area compared to healthy controls. A total of 967 non-cancer subjects were recruited, including 509 family members of NPC cases, 196 individuals having chronic complaints in the head and neck region, and 262 healthy donors of the local blood bank. Sera were analyzed using a standardized peptide-based EBV-IgA ELISA. Overall, 61.6% of all individuals had anti-EBV IgA reactivity equal to or below cut off value (CoV). Seroreactivity above CoV was significantly higher in females (38.7%) compared to males (28.7%) (p = 0.001). Older individuals had more seroreactivity above CoV (42.5%) than the younger ones (26.4%) (p< 0.001). Seroprevalence was significantly higher in family members of NPC patients (41.7%), compared to 32.7% of individuals with chronic head and neck problems (p = 0.028) and 16.4% healthy blood donors (p< 0.001). As conclusion, this study showed a significant higher seroprevalence in healthy family members of NPC cases and subjects presenting with chronic symptoms in the head and neck area compared to healthy individuals from the general community. This finding indicates that both groups have elevated risk of developing NPC and may serve as targets for a regional NPC screening program.

The rationale for preventing cancer cachexia: targeting excessive fatty acid oxidation

Cachexia commonly occurs at the terminal stage of cancer and has largely unclear molecular mechanisms. A recent study published in Nature Medicine, entitled “Excessive fatty acid oxidation induces muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia,” reveals that cachectic cancer cells can secrete multiple cytokines that induce excessive fatty acid oxidation, which is responsible for muscle loss in cancer cachexia. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation using etomoxir can increase muscle mass and body weight in cancer cachexia animal models. The usage of stable cachexia animal models is also discussed in this research highlight.