East-West Symposium on nasopharyngeal cancer

To achieve greater understanding of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, molecular oncology, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC), an international meeting was held in June 2005, Toronto, Canada.

Further insights were obtained into the role of EBV in NPC development, with its diverse effects ranging from proliferative signals via NF-kB, to immunesuppression, to angiogenic gene regulation. Subsequently, multiple pathways are dysregulated in NPC as revealed by expression array analyses, including apoptosis, integrin, and B-catenin cascades. Advances have been made in the diagnosis and monitoring of NPC, using transoral brushings and plasma levels of EBV transcripts, which may not directly correlate with the number of circulating tumor cells, but is nevertheless informative in predicting and tracking disease response. Many novel therapies have promising results, particularly in the areas of immunotherapies, and the exploration of molecularly targeted approaches such as cetuximab or histone deacetylase inhibitors.

The results from large randomized trials and meta-analyses have consistently demonstrated the benefit of concurrent chemotherapy with curative radiation therapy, but at a cost of greater acute and late-tissue toxicities. Further advances are required to achieve an improved understanding on the inter-relationship between environmental and genetic determinants in NPC development, to reduce the global burden of this disease. At the same time, novel therapeutic approaches are necessary to increase curability of NPC, but with reduced long-term toxicities.