Background: We aimed to identify clinical significance of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), Ki-67, cyclin-B1, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), in nonendemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Methods: The relation between expression of the markers in 45 NPC specimens and clinicopathological and survival variables was statistically analyzed.
Results: LMP1 was present in 33% of the tumors, and its presence was associated with advanced nodal and disease stages. Overexpression was defined as labeling index > or = median value for Ki-67, > or = 15% for cyclin-B1, and > or =50% for EGFR, and it was displayed in 50%, 55%, and 80% of the specimens, respectively. Strong EGFR staining intensity and not overexpression of the 3 markers was the variable with statistically significant impact on treatment outcomes in terms of worse local and locoregional tumor control rates.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the evaluation of EGFR staining intensity in patients with NPC may identify a subgroup of patients with poor prognosis.