Prognostic importance of expression of mini-chromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs) in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer treated with curative radiotherapy.

Objective: The prognostic importance of minichromosome maintenance complex expression in nasopharyngeal cancer is still unknown. We aimed to find whether minichromosome maintenance complex 2-7 expression may potentially be used to predict the prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer patients treated with definitive radiotherapy.

Methods: Between April 2007 and July 2020, patients with nasopharyngeal cancer treated with radiotherapy were identified. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of cases. A single pathologist analyzed the histologic specimens of all patients.

Results: Totally, 67 patients were included. The median followup was 75.3 months. Higher tumor (T) stage was correlated with minichromosome maintenance complex 2 overexpression. Minichromosome maintenance complex s expression was also associated with histopathologic subgroups. According to univariate analysis, AJCC stage, histopathological subgroups, tumor response after treatment, minichromosome maintenance complex 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 expression were the prognostic factors that predict overall survival. According to multivariate analysis minichromosome maintenance complex 7 expression was the only prognostic marker for both progression-free survival and overall survival.

Conclusion: The overexpression of minichromosome maintenance complex 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 indicated bad prognosis. Minichromosome maintenance complex 7 was an independent prognostic factor for survival outcomes in nasopharyngeal cancer and may be a potential therapeutic target for treatment.