Genomic instability in the progression of sporadic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective Genomic instability reflecting the susceptibility of the genome to acquire multiple genetic alterations plays a major role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. We evaluated the prognostic significance of the extent of genomic instability in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study design and setting Genomic instability was assessed by inter–simple sequence repeats polymerase chain reaction (inter-SSR PCR) in 38 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Characterization and verification of band alterations shared in different tumors were carried out by sequencing and nest PCR. Results 31 (81.6%) of 38 patients showed genomic alterations, and genomic instability index ranged from 0 to 16.2%. A gain-based genomic damage shared in 6 tumors was identified on chromosome 6q27, a new mutator phenotype in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Significantly more genomic alteration was found in patients without 5-year survival than that with 5-year survival ( P Conclusions and significance Our data suggests that genomic instability can be an early event marker in carcinogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Also, aggravation of genomic alterations is a poor prognosis for cancer recovery.