Prognostic Correlations between ABO Blood Group and Pre-Treatment Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Receiving Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to assess the prognostic value of ABO blood group in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the data on 1397 patients with non-metastatic, newly diagnosed NPC treated using IMRT. Patient survival between different ABO blood groups were compared using log-rank test. Cox hazards model was adopted to establish independent prognostic factors.


RESULTS
In our study, the distribution of the A, B, AB and O blood groups was 26.6% (372/1397), 26.2% (366/1397), 5.2% (73/1397) and 42.0% (586/1397), respectively. The cut-off value of pre-treatment Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA based on disease-free survival (DFS) was 1355 copies/ml (area under curve [AUC], 0.649; sensitivity, 0.76; specificity, 0.496) for the whole cohort. Estimated four-year DFS, overall survival (OS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS) rates were 81.7%, 89.2%, 89.4% and 92.3% for blood group A; 82.1%, 89.3%, 89.0% and 92.0% for group B; 83.3%, 88.1%, 86.2% and 95.5% for group AB, 80.9%, 90.7%, 88.4% and 90.2% for group O (P > 0.05 for all rates). Multivariate analysis revealed ABO blood group was not an independent prognostic factor for DFS, OS, DMFS or LRRFS (P > 0.05 for all rates) after adjusting for plasma EBV DNA in either the whole cohort or subgroup analysis by gender.


CONCLUSIONS
The prognostic value of ABO blood group may be limited for patients with NPC in the era of IMRT, and no substantial correlation between ABO blood group and plasma EBV DNA was observed.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Hao
H
Peng
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Lei
L
Chen
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Wen-Fei
WF
Li
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Yuan
Y
Zhang
Imaging Diagnosis and Interventional Center, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Li-Zhi
LZ
Liu
Imaging Diagnosis and Interventional Center, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Li
L
Tian
Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Ai-Hua
AH
Lin
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Ying
Y
Sun
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.
Jun
J
Ma
D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000821:virology; D011379:Prognosis; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D004279:DNA, Viral