Microsatellite instability in nasopharyngeal and lymphoepithelial carcinomas of the head and neck

Lymphoepithelial carcinoma (LEC) is a descriptive diagnosis for an undifferentiated carcinoma that has a typical morphologic appearance of large vesicular cells with prominent nucleoli and infiltrating lymphocytes. Tumors with this histopathologic appearance in the head and neck can be categorized as either those that occur in endemic areas, such as Southeast Asia and are associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, or those that occur in other countries and are less commonly associated with EBV. The molecular changes in endemic EBV-related LEC have been fairly well studied and include both alterations in tumor suppressor genes and 1 report of high levels of microsatellite instability. In nonendemic LECs arising in western countries, there is very little data related to molecular mutational profiles. In this study, we examined 19 cases of LEC from the United States for evidence of microsatellite instability at the DNA level and for alterations in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system at the immunohistochemical staining level. Only 3/19 cases showed high-level microsatellite instability and only 1 of these showed an alteration in the DNA MMR protein expression hMLH1. These data suggest that alterations in DNA MMR system are not a common mechanism of tumorigenesis in LEC of the head and neck in a nonendemic country.