Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of patients with de novo metastatic NPC (n = 502)
| EBV DNA levels after PCT | Tumor response to PCT | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Undetectable | Detectable | P-value | CR/PR | SD/PD | P-value |
| Total | 249 | 253 | 317 | 185 | ||
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 204 (81.9%) | 213 (84.2%) | 0.552 | 260 (82.0%) | 157 (84.9%) | 0.460 |
| Female | 45 (18.1%) | 40 (15.8%) | 57 (18.0%) | 28 (15.1%) | ||
| Age (years) | ||||||
| ≤ 47 | 133 (53.4%) | 128 (50.6%) | 0.533 | 165 (52.1%) | 96 (51.9%) | 1.000 |
| > 47 | 116 (46.6%) | 125 (49.4%) | 152 (47.9%) | 89 (48.1%) | ||
| T stage | ||||||
| T1 | 10 (4.0%) | 11 (4.3%) | 1.000 | 10 (3.2%) | 11 (5.9%) | 0.467 |
| T2 | 31 (12.4%) | 32 (12.6%) | 39 (12.3%) | 24 (13.0%) | ||
| T3 | 123 (49.4%) | 125 (49.4%) | 161 (50.8%) | 87 (47.0%) | ||
| T4 | 85 (34.1%) | 85 (33.6%) | 107 (33.8%) | 63 (34.1%) | ||
| N stage | ||||||
| N0 | 13 (5.2%) | 3 (1.2%) | 0.002 | 11 (3.5%) | 5 (2.7%) | 0.790 |
| N1 | 53 (21.3%) | 36 (14.2%) | 55 (17.4%) | 34 (18.4%) | ||
| N2 | 101 (40.6%) | 101 (39.9%) | 132 (41.6%) | 70 (37.8%) | ||
| N3 | 82 (32.9%) | 113 (44.7%) | 119 (37.5%) | 76 (41.1%) | ||
| Metastatic sites | ||||||
| Bone | 130 (52.2%) | 96 (37.9%) | < 0.001 | 157 (49.5%) | 69 (37.3%) | < 0.001 |
| Lung | 44 (17.7%) | 20 (7.9%) | 48 (15.1%) | 16 (8.6%) | ||
| Liver | 20 (8.0%) | 29 (11.5%) | 28 (8.8%) | 21 (11.4%) | ||
| Distant nodal | 23 (9.2%) | 12 (4.7%) | 27 (8.5%) | 8 (4.3%) | ||
| Multiple sites | 32 (12.9%) | 96 (37.9%) | 57 (18.0%) | 71 (38.4%) | ||
| PCT regimens | ||||||
| TPF | 77 (30.9%) | 53 (20.9%) | 0.081 | 85 (26.8%) | 45 (24.3%) | 0.639 |
| TP | 59 (23.7%) | 62 (24.5%) | 81 (25.6%) | 40 (21.6%) | ||
| PF | 63 (25.3%) | 68 (26.9%) | 78 (24.6%) | 53 (28.6%) | ||
| GP | 10 (4.0%) | 17 (6.7%) | 18 (5.7%) | 9 (4.9%) | ||
| Others | 40 (16.1%) | 53 (20.9%) | 55 (17.4%) | 38 (20.5%) | ||
| LRRT | ||||||
| Yes | 194 (77.9%) | 121 (47.8%) | < 0.001 | 219 (69.1%) | 96 (51.9%) | < 0.002 |
| No | 55 (22.1%) | 132 (52.2%) | 98 (30.9%) | 89 (48.1%) | ||
Abbreviations: EBV Epstein-Barr virus, PCT palliative chemotherapy, CR complete response, PR partial response, PD disease progression, SD stable disease, TPF cisplatin plus docetaxel plus 5-fluorouracil, TP cisplatin plus docetaxel, PF cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil, GP cisplatin plus gemcitabine, LRRT locoregional radiotherapy
Undetectable/detectable EBV-DNA levels after PCT is based on a cutoff value of 0 copies per milliliter
P-value was calculated with the Pearson χ2 test