BACKGROUND:

Our aim was to evaluate the prognostic impact of bcl-2 expression on patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODS:

One hundred five patients with advanced NPC treated with high-dose radiotherapy were included. The relationship between bcl-2 expression, TNM stage, and disease-specific survival was analyzed.

RESULTS:

Within the same stage III and IV, patients with negative bcl-2 expression had better disease-free survival. The disease-free survival of patients with stage IV NPC with negative bcl-2 expression was paradoxically better than that of patients with stage III NPC with positive bcl-2 expression. In the advanced NPC, the disease-free survival of patients with stage III cancer was better than that of patients with stage IV cancer (p = .06); in contrast, patients with bcl-2-positive tumors had a worse disease-free 5-year survival (p = .02). The Cox regression model revealed that only bcl-2 expression was statistically significant (p = .03).

CONCLUSION:

In advanced staged NPC, bcl-2 expression represented an important prognostic factor.