According to the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, a clinical research finding of locoregional radiotherapy with chemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone in de novo metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma led by the center's professor Chen Mingyuan was published on July 23rd, 2020 in the journal JAMA Oncology, a top journal of oncology with an impact factor of 24.8.

A file photo shows an otolaryngologist checks a nasopharyngeal carcinoma patient. (Photo: Sun Junjie)

The study, which was the first original research article on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a rare form of cancer which affects the back of the nose and throat, since the journal started publication, found that patients who received locoregional radiotherapy with chemotherapy had a two-year survival rate of 70.4%, significantly higher than that (35.3%) of patients who received chemotherapy alone.  

In 2014, professor Chen and his team studied over 400 de novo metastatic NPC cases diagnosed at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 2000 and December 2009.

Based on that study, the team further researched another 977 cases treated at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University, the Hunan Cancer Hospital and the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University.

Between April 2014 and August 2018, professor Chen launched a prospective clinical trial and recruited 126 de novo metastatic NPC cases who were sensitive to chemotherapy.

The research results showed that the two-year survival rates for these patients with locoregional radiotherapy with chemotherapy had been increased to 76.4% from 54.5%, and the progression-free survival rate to 35.0% from 3.6%.

Professor Nancy Lee specializing in radiotherapy for head and neck cancers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center commented in an invited commentary published in the same issue that the study has provided Class I evidence for the therapeutic value of locoregional radiotherapy with chemotherapy in de novo metastatic NPC cases sensitive to chemotherapy.

A screenshot of the article and the invited commentary published in the journal JAMA Oncology. 

NPC is one of the most common malignant tumors in China, more malignant than other head and neck cancers and with a high tendency of distant spread.

Professor Chen Mingyuan said, "It's our responsibility to apply our research findings to clinical trial, so as to offer better treatment for NPC patients and help them gain better survival rate and life quality." The team hopes that the treatment will be included within international guidelines and become one of the standard treatments for de novo metastatic NPC patients.

Author | Monica

Editor | Jerry