HYPERMETHYLATED DNA AS BIOMARKER FOR NASOPHARYNGEAL CANCER DETECTION

Backgroud: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy with remarkable geographic and distribution worldwide, toward in Southern China and Southern Asia. In addition to Epstein–Barr virus infection, environmental carcinogens, the development of NPC involves the cumulative genetic as well as epigenetic alteration. More recently, it has been reported that DNA hypermethylation, an epigenetic mechanism, that occurred by the addition of a methyl group at 5' position of the pyrimidine ring of cytosine residues at CpG islands, has been considered as the cause of nasopharyngeal tumorigenesis. In recent years, many reports have focused on the identification, evaluation of aberrant methylation of target tumor suppressor genes' promoters, such as RASSF1A, BLU, DLEC, RARβ, p16, p15, p14, and MGMT in the NPC development.Objective: We focused on the description and exemplification of the DNA hypermethylation changes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Conclusion: we highlighted the DNA hypermethylation as a potential biomarker applied in monitoring, screening, and early diagnosis for cancer of nasopharynx