Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Progression: Accumulating Genomic Instability and Persistent Epstein–Barr Virus Infection

Abstract

Genomic instability facilitates the evolution of cells, tissues, organs, and species. The progression of human malignancies can be regarded as the accumulation of genomic instability, which confers a high evolutionary potential for tumor cells to adapt to continuous changes in the tumor microenvironment. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a head-and-neck squamous-cell carcinoma closely associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection. NPC progression is driven by a combination of accumulated genomic instability and persistent EBV infection. Here, we present a review of the key characteristics of genomic instability in NPC and the profound implications of EBV infection. We further discuss the significance of profiling genomic instability for the assessment of disease progression and treatment efficacy, as well as the opportunities and challenges of targeted therapies for NPC based on its unique genomic instability.

The efficacy of natural products for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

“…Genomic instability plays a role in the development of NPC. EBV causes DNA damage in infected cells and inhibits DNA repair mechanisms, increasing the likelihood of mutations and chromosomal abnormalities (Liu, Deng, et al., 2022). The loss of chromosomes 3p and 9p maybe an important early event in the development of NPC.…”

“…Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) originating in the nasopharyngeal epithelium (Chen, Chan, et al., 2019). NPC has a high incidence in southern China and some Southeast Asian regions, but is extremely rare in most parts of the world (Liu, Deng, et al., 2022). According to the WHO classification, NPC is divided into keratinizing (squamous cell) and non‐keratinizing carcinomas, which both be divided into differentiated and undifferentiated variants (Huang, Wang, et al., 2021).…”

Relevance of pyroptosis‐associated genes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma diagnosis and subtype classification

“…Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a specific epithelial malignancy originating from the mucosal lining of the nasopharynx, which has significant ethnic and regional differences and is associated with genetic factors, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and environmental factors. 1,2 Generally, NPC is a rare disease, with approximately 80,000 new patients testified each year, accounting for 0.7% of each malignant tumor. NPC can be divided into three pathological subtypes: non-keratinized squamous, keratinized and basal-like squamous, among which non-keratinized squamous cell NPC accounts for more than 97% of NPC cases in Southeast Asia and southern China.…”

“…Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a specific epithelial malignancy originating from the mucosal lining of the nasopharynx, which has significant ethnic and regional differences and is associated with genetic factors, Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection and environmental factors 1,2 . Generally, NPC is a rare disease, with approximately 80,000 new patients testified each year, accounting for 0.7% of each malignant tumor.…”

STIM1-regulated exosomal EBV-LMP1 empowers endothelial cells with an aggressive phenotype by activating the Akt/ERK pathway in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

“…The latter participates in NPC development by shaping malignant phenotypes and reprogramming cellular metabolism in the infected host epithelial cells. EBV infection also contributes to NPC progression by remodeling the tumor microenvironment (TME), which causes deregulated proliferation, regional invasiveness, and ultimately distant dissemination of NPC cells [5][6][7][8][9].…”