Is nasopharyngeal cancer hereditary?

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a malignant tumor that occurs at the back of the nasopharynx and above the pharynx. It is one of the most common tumors in my country. It is characterized by insidious onset and no obvious early symptoms. Once obvious subjective symptoms appear, it is often in the middle or late stages and difficult to treat. The 5-year survival rate of early nasopharyngeal carcinoma is as high as more than 90% after timely and reasonable treatment, while the 5-year survival rate of late stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma is only 20%, so we must pay attention to early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment. The following are some characteristics of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

1. Genetic factors: The incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma has obvious regional characteristics, and has obvious racial and familial clustering. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is more common in the yellow race, and it is rare for white people to suffer from this disease. Families with a high incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, such as those who have moved overseas, often have obvious family histories of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. These phenomena indicate that genetic background plays a certain role in the occurrence of this disease.

2. Virus factors: More than 90% of people in my country have been infected with Epstein-Barr virus when they were young. Epstein-Barr virus infection is very common. The occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is obviously regional, so Epstein-Barr virus infection cannot be considered the cause of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, a large number of studies have found that the relationship between Epstein-Barr virus and nasopharyngeal carcinoma is very close.

⑴ The serum of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients was tested for immunoglobulin A (VCA/IgA) against Epstein-Barr virus capsid antigen by immunoenzymatic method, and the antibody positive rate was found to be 90.9%, while the antibody positive rate of other tumors, including head and neck cancer, was only 3.5%, and the antibody positive rate of normal people was 0.6%. At the same time, the antibody titer of VCA/IgA can gradually decrease with the recovery of the disease. On the contrary, when the disease relapses or worsens, the antibody titer increases significantly. In addition, regardless of whether the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients are in high-incidence or low-incidence areas, their Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA) is 100% positive, while other head and neck cancers are all negative.

⑵ Amplification detection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology confirmed the presence of EB virus fragments (DNA and BamHIW fragments) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells, while this fragment did not exist in normal nasopharyngeal tissues.

⑶ In vitro, after the nasopharyngeal epithelial cells were infected with cell lines containing EB virus, the infected epithelium grew faster and nuclear division phases were more common. In nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue, EB virus is not only in a latent state, but also has virus replication.

However, it is still unclear whether EBV is the cause of NPC. Further research is ongoing.

From the above, we can see that heredity has a certain influence on the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.