Overexpression of cyclin E messenger ribonucleic acid showed an adverse prognostic significance, correlating with an advanced stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and a low overall survival rate.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is difficult to diagnose in its early stages. It also has frequent recurrences and/or distant metnstases after radiotherapy. Extensive clinical, serological and biochemical studies were done during 1980‐1982 on 351 patients to aid in the diagnosis of the disease, especially with recurrence or metastasis. Seropositive rates of the antibody titers against viral capsid antigens (VCA) and early antigens (EA) of Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) in IgG and IgA classes were 41.7%‐100%. They ranked, in order of frequency: anti‐VCA/IgA, anti‐VCA/IgG, anti‐EA/IgG, and anti‐EA/IgA. Mean total serum IgG and IgA levels were moderately increased in all patients. Serum GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, laclnte dehydrogenase and mucoprotein were elevated either alone or in combination in a few patients before treatment, in many patients with recurrence or metastases, and in all patients with liver metastasis.

The acquisition of somatic mutations in the rearranged immunoglobulin V regions in B cells occurs within the tightly regulated microenvironment of a germinal centre. The precise mechanism responsible for turning on the mutational process is unknown. To dissect the role of different components of the germinal centre in this mechanism, we have used in vitro cultures of normal human IgD+ peripheral blood B lymphocytes co-cultured with activated CD4+ T cells, or with resting CD4+ T cells, or with CD40 ligand and IL-4. We observed that if the cultures included activated CD4+ T cells, then up to 100% of VH transcripts on day 14 were somatically mutated. Transcripts were found to carry from one to 36 substitutions (median five). In contrast, in the absence of activated T cells, transcripts contained only background levels of somatic mutation irrespective of the presence of resting T cells or CD40 ligand and IL-4. Cell-cell contact was required for mutation because mutations were not detected when B cells were separated from activated T cells by a membrane.

Levels of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 1 were significantly higher in nasopharyngeal carcinoma than in normal tissue, while p16 gene expression was diminished. These three proteins may contribute to nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis.