Skip to main content
Log in

PIK3CA mutation occurs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma but does not significantly influence the disease-specific survival

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Medical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study was aimed to test whether PIK3CA, BRAF and RAS are mutated in nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) and, if so, to further determine whether such mutations affect patients’ survival. For this purpose, a total of 73 NPCs were subjected to mutational analyses for PIK3CA (exons 4, 7, 9, and 20), BRAF (codon 600), and RAS (codons 12, 13 and 61). Clinicopathological characteristics were correlated to the mutation data. Survival rates were compared with the log-rank test. The result showed that the mutation rate of PIK3CA in NPC (n = 73) was 9.6%, whereas both BRAF (n = 65) and RAS (n = 45) were wild type in every specimen with adequate DNA for analysis. PIK3CA mutation was slightly influenced by sex (P = 0.0418, Fisher’s exact test), but had no significant relationship to other clinicopathological characteristics. Disease-specific survival was not significantly affected by PIK3CA mutations (P = 0.8825, log-rank test), albeit it was slightly better in younger patients (≤35 vs. >35 years of age) (P = 0.0477). These findings show that mutated PI3K may be involved in the NPC tumorigenesis but does not affect patient’s prognosis, suggesting that PI3K is a potential target in NPC for targeted therapeutics using specific kinase inhibitors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Liebowitz D. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: the Epstein–Barr virus association. Semin Oncol. 1994;21:376–81.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hirayama T. Descriptive and analytical epidemiology of nasopharyngeal cancer. IARC Sci Publ. 1978;20:167–89.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Parkin DM, Muir CS. Cancer incidence in five continents. Comparability and quality of data. IARC Sci Publ. 1992;120:45–173.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Lee AW, et al. Retrospective analysis of 5037 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated during 1976–1985: overall survival and patterns of failure. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1992;23:261–70.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sham JS, Choy D, Choi PH. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: the significance of neck node involvement in relation to the pattern of distant failure. Br J Radiol. 1990;63:108–13.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Huang SC, Lui LT, Lynn TC. Nasopharyngeal cancer: study III. A review of 1206 patients treated with combined modalities. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1985;11:1789–93.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee AW, et al. Retrospective analysis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated during 1976–1985: survival after local recurrence. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1993;26:773–82.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Sham JS, Choy D. Prognostic factors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a review of 759 patients. Br J Radiol. 1990;63:51–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Samuels Y, et al. High frequency of mutations of the PIK3CA gene in human cancers. Science. 2004;304:554. doi:10.1126/science.1096502.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Saal LH, et al. PIK3CA mutations correlate with hormone receptors, node metastasis, and ERBB2, and are mutually exclusive with PTEN loss in human breast carcinoma. Cancer Res. 2005;65:2554–9. doi:10.1158/0008-5472-CAN-04-3913.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wymann MP, Pirola L. Structure and function of phosphoinositide 3-kinases. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998;1436:127–50.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Kumar V, Cotran RS, Robbins SL. Neoplasia. In: Kumar V, Cotran RS, Robbins SL, editors. Robbins basic pathology. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Press; 2003. p. 180.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Davies H, et al. Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer. Nature. 2002;417:949–54. doi:10.1038/nature00766.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kim KH, Kang DW, Kim SH, Seong IO, Kang DY. Mutations of the BRAF gene in papillary thyroid carcinoma in a Korean population. Yonsei Med J. 2000;45:818–21.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Namba H, et al. Clinical implication of hot spot BRAF mutation, V599E, in papillary thyroid cancers. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003;88:4393–7. doi:10.1210/jc.2003-030305.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Rajagopalan H, et al. Tumorigenesis: RAF/RAS oncogenes and mismatch-repair status. Nature. 2002;418:934. doi:10.1038/418934a.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Li SY, Rong MN, Grieu F, Iacopetta B. PIK3CA mutations in breast cancer are associated with poor outcome. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2006;96:91–5. doi:10.1007/s10549-005-9048-0.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Broderick DK, et al. Mutations of PIK3CA in anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, high-grade astrocytomas, and medulloblastomas. Cancer Res. 2004;64:5048–50. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-1170.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Li VS, et al. Mutations of PIK3CA in gastric adenocarcinoma. BMC Cancer. 2005;5:29. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-5-29.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Qiu W, et al. PIK3CA mutations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2006;12:1441–6. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-2173.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Wang Y, Helland A, Holm R, Kristensen GB, Borresen-Dale AL. PIK3CA mutations in advanced ovarian carcinoma. Hum Mutat. 2005;25:322. doi:10.1002/humu.9316.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Wu G, et al. Somatic mutation and gain of copy number of PIK3CA in human breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2005;7:R609–16. doi:10.1186/bcr1262.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Or YY, Hui AB, To KF, Lam CN, Lo KW. PIK3CA mutations in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Int J Cancer. 2006;118:1065–7. doi:10.1002/ijc.21444.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Hildesheim A, Leoine PH. Etiology of nasophargngeal carcinoma: a review. Epidemiol Rev. 1993;15:466–85.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Poirier S, et al. Volatile nitrosamine levels and genotoxicity of food samples from high-risk areas for nasopharyngeal carcinoma before and after nitrosation. Int J Cancer. 1989;44:1088–94. doi:10.1002/ijc.2910440625.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Yu MC, Ho JH, Lai SH, Henderson BE. Cantonese-style salted fish as a cause of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: report of a case-control study in Hong Kong. Cancer Res. 1986;46:956–61.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Teo P, et al. Significant prognosticators after primary radiotherapy in 903 nondisseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma evaluated by computer tomography. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1996;36:291–304. doi:10.1016/S0360-3016(96)00323-9.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Qin DX, et al. Analysis of 1379 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated by radiation. Cancer. 1988;61:1117–24. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19880315)61:6<1117::AID-CNCR2820610611>3.0.CO;2-J.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Lee AW, et al. Treatment results for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the modern era: the Hong Kong experience. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005;61:1107–16. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2004.07.702.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by NSC 95-2320-B-195-001 from National Science Council, Taiwan, and MMH-E-96002 from Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chin-Yuan Tzen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chou, CC., Chou, MJ. & Tzen, CY. PIK3CA mutation occurs in nasopharyngeal carcinoma but does not significantly influence the disease-specific survival. Med Oncol 26, 322–326 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-008-9124-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-008-9124-5

Keywords

Navigation