研究背景:在歐美國家,鼻咽癌是非常罕見的惡性腫瘤;相反地,亞洲的東南部,包括中國大陸東南沿海、香港、及台灣等地卻是相當常見。在台灣地區鼻咽癌曾經是頭頸部最常見的惡性腫瘤。目前已知鼻咽癌是一種多重因子造成的癌症,其中至少包括了EB病毒、遺傳因子以及環境因子等三種。EB 病毒感存在於鼻咽癌的現象,在1970年代就已經由Zur Hausen 及Wolf等多位學者以DNA雜交的方法證實。在本土的研究應用PCR方法分析各種組織含EB病毒的比例依序為:原發性鼻咽癌94.7% (71/75)、復發性鼻咽癌77.8% (14/18)、治癒性鼻咽癌0% (0/3)、鼻咽部淋巴組織32.1% (9/28)、鼻咽部其他腫瘤0% (0/3)、 其他頭頸部癌症21.1% (8/38)。顯示EB病毒與鼻咽癌之關聯性遠大於其他頭頸部腫瘤或鼻咽部之淋巴組織。 對於EB病毒的致癌性,目前已經發現可能與潛伏性膜狀蛋白-1 (LMP-1)有關。LMP-1是一種在EB病毒潛伏性感染時期中所產生的蛋白質,本身具有使表皮細胞轉型的能力。經由細胞株的研究發現病毒中的LMP-1和腫瘤的生成與細胞的活化有關。 EB病毒LMP-1 的基因(BNLF-1)在不同的宿主細胞曾發現有不同的變易,例如鼻咽癌細胞中EB病毒的 LMP-1 (NLMP-1)相較於由B淋巴細胞分離出來之LMP-1(BLMP-1)會有三十個鹼基對的缺失(30 bp deletion)。經由細胞株的實驗顯示此三十個鹼基對的缺失會增強野生型LMP-1之細胞轉型能力。 研究目的:本論文的目的想探討NLMP-1,BLMP-1在本地鼻咽癌病人中表現的情形,並探討其在臨床上的意義。同時,我們試著找出兩組病人在性別、腫瘤分期、臨床預後上、或者是對於化學/放射治療的反應是否不同。預期目標是希望探討台灣地區鼻咽癌病人腫瘤組織中EB病毒LMP-1三十個鹼基對的缺失與否,是否會影響腫瘤的發生、治療反應與治療預後。 研究方法:吾人收集1994年到1999年間至台大醫院診治的鼻咽癌病人,將冰凍保存之鼻咽切片標本純化DNA,應用PCR檢測EB病毒LMP-1並加以定序,同時依LMP-1基因的亞型分析病患之臨床特性及存活情形。 研究結果:研究結果顯示,130 名病患中,具N型LMP-1的病患有115名,具B型LMP-1的病患有15名。兩種亞型在鼻咽癌的WHO病理分類、年齡分佈、腫瘤大小、頸部淋巴節轉移、遠端轉移、及臨床分期各方面,均無顯著差異。但以不同亞型的LMP-1來分析,發現具NLMP-1的鼻咽癌病人男性所佔的比例較女性為高,具BLMP-1的患者則以女性所佔比率較高(Fisher’s exact test,P=0.015)。且兩組病人在整體存活率(Kaplan Meier method)上,有顯著差異(Log Rank test,P=0.0067) 。NLMP-1在男性鼻咽癌病患所佔的比例較高,可能與男性較易發生鼻咽癌有關,進而影響其預後。 關鍵詞:鼻咽癌,潛伏性膜狀蛋白-1
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma ( NPC) is a common cancer in Chinese people, but it is rare in western countries. It has been demonstrated that Epstein-Barr virus-encoded latent membrane protein 1 ( LMP-1) can cause cellular transformation and activation of several intracellular signaling events. Several reports showed that EBV in the endemic areas of NPC commonly contains a mutant LMP-1 with 30 bp deletion in the C- terminal. This mutant LMP-1 has been shown to have an elevated transforming potential when compared with the wild type LMP-1 derived from B95-8 cells. In this study we amplified and sequenced the LMP-1 gene obtained from tissue of 130 NPC patients diagnosed and treated in National Taiwan University Hospital from 1994 to1999. The prevalence rate of mutant LMP-1 (NLMP-1 in this study) was 88.5% (115/130). In man and women, the presence of NLMP-1 was 93.3% (84/90) and 77.5% (31/40) respectively. The clinical outcomes and pathological characteristics were analyzed in these two different groups of patients (LMP-1 with/without 30 bp deletion). The 5 –year overall survival rate in the BLMP-1 group (LMP-1 without 30 bp deletion) was significantly higher than the NLMP-1 group (72.4% vs. 61.0%, P=0.0067). In NLMP-1 group, patients older than 40 years of age had increase risk of dying from NPC. The presence of 30 bp deletion on the C-terminal of LMP1 was a significant variable associated with NPC-related death in multivariate Cox’s regression analysis (relative risk= 2.389, 95% CI= 1.218-4.685). It revealed that NLMP-1 gene is predominating in male patients, which may be related to the higher incidence and higher mortality rate in the male NPC patients in Taiwan.