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Clinical Cancer Research Vol. 6, 3932-3936, October 2000
© 2000 American Association for Cancer Research
Molecular Oncology, Markers, Clinical Correlates |
Contrasted Frequencies of p53 Accumulation in the Two Age Groups of North African Nasopharyngeal Carcinomas1
Ahmed Khabir,
Abdelmasid Sellami,
Mohamed Sakka,
Abdel Monem Ghorbel,
Jamel Daoud,
Mounir Frikha,
Mohamed M. Drira,
Pierre Busson2 and
Rachid Jlidi
Laboratoire dAnatomie et de Cytologie Pathologiques [A. K., A. S., R. J.], Service dOto-rhino-laryngologie [M. S., A. G., M. M. D.], Service de Radiothérapie [J. D.], and Service de Chimiothérapie [M. F.], Hôpital Universitaire Habib Bourguiba, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia, and Unité Mixte de Recherche 1598 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique [P. B.], Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
 |
ABSTRACT
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EBV-associated
nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) from Southeast Asia and North Africa
have many common clinical and biological characteristics. However, they
differ with regard to their age distribution. In Asia, NPC mainly
affects patients in the 4th or 5th decade of their life, whereas in
North Africa an additional peak of incidence is found between the ages
of 10 and 20. The p53 gene is rarely mutated in
NPC. However, several groups have reported a consistent accumulation of
p53 in Asian NPCs. To determine whether p53 was also accumulated in
North African NPCs, we investigated its expression, by
immunohistochemistry, in a series of 90 Tunisian biopsies. Bcl2 and
CD95, two proteins involved in the regulation of cell survival and
apoptosis, were investigated in the same study. We found accumulation
of p53 in 81% of the cases for patients over 30 years of age, but in
only 38% of specimens for younger patients (P =
0.00013). There was a trend toward a higher frequency of Bcl2 detection
in patients over 30, but it was not statistically significant. CD95
expression was detected in all biopsies, generally at a high level,
even at advanced stages of the disease. The changing frequency of p53
accumulation, below and over 30, suggests that NPC cells often achieve
malignant transformation through different pathways in both age groups.
 |
INTRODUCTION
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NPCs3
are rare
in most countries but occur with a high incidence in Southeast Asia and
to a lesser extent in North Africa and Artic regions (1
, 2)
. Although NPC is not as frequent in North Africa as it is in
Southeast Asia, it remains the most frequent head and neck cancer in
Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco (2
, 3)
. Asian and African
NPCs share a number of common clinical and biological characteristics.
In both parts of the world, >90% of the cases are EBV-associated
tumors with the WHO type III (undifferentiated) or II (nonkeratinizing)
histological type (4, 5, 6)
. In both places, they display a
characteristic high degree of lymphocytic infiltration on tissue
sections and are, on average, more sensitive to radiotherapy and
chemotherapy than other head and neck carcinomas (7)
.
However, one remarkable difference between Asian and African NPCs is
their age distribution. Several epidemiological studies have revealed a
bimodal pattern for North African NPCs. Whereas in Southeast Asia there
is only one single peak of incidence about the age of 50, in North
Africa an additional minor peak of incidence occurs between the ages of
10 and 20, including about 15% of all NPC patients (3
, 6
, 8) . A similar form of juvenile NPC is also observed among
African American teenagers, although with a much lower incidence than
in North Africa (2
, 8)
. Thus far, there has been only
limited data on biological characteristics that could differentiate
tumors from both age groups (6)
.
p53 and Bcl2, two key proteins for apoptosis control and oncogenesis,
have been previously investigated by immunostaining of tissue sections
in a number of Asian NPC series (9, 10, 11, 12)
. Both proteins
were consistently detected in malignant cells of a large majority of
tumors. The selective detection of p53 in tumor cells has been
interpreted as indicative of p53 abnormal stabilization, as is often
the case in human malignancies (10
, 13)
. Thus far, there
has been no report concerning p53 and Bcl2 expression in North African
NPCs. Therefore, we started to investigate both molecules in a series
of 90 NPC biopsies from Tunisia. Investigations on CD95 (or
Fas-receptor) were also included in this study. CD95 is a member of the
tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, containing an
intracytoplasmic death domain. It is a potent mediator of apoptosis in
a wide range of nonmalignant cells (14
, 15)
. Its
expression is often decreased or its function impaired in various types
of human malignancies (16
, 17)
.
Here, we report that p53 and Bcl2 were detectable in a majority of
tumors and CD95 in all our NPC specimens. However, there was
significantly much less p53-positive tumors in the group of young
patients (under 30 years of age) than in the main age group (above 30
years of age).
 |
PATIENTS AND METHODS
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Patients and Specimens.
Primary NPC biopsies were collected from 90 patients, before any
treatment, in the Sfax University Hospital (Sfax, Tunisia) from January
1993 to December 1998. The male:female ratio was 257:1, with 64 men and
26 women. The ages ranged from 977 years (mean age, 43.3). The
clinical stage of the disease was determined according to the tumor,
node, metastasis (TNM) classification of the American Joint Committee
on Cancer/Union International Contre le Cancer (1997). Six
(6.67%) patients were stage II, 25 (27.77%) patients were stage III,
and 59 (65.55%) were stage IV. All patients were treated by
irradiation of the nasopharynx and/or cervical lymph nodes, except
eight patients with early distant metastases who only received
chemotherapy. The effect of radiotherapy was evaluated for 71 patients
(the follow-up was insufficient for 4 patients). The extent of tumor
response was graded as: complete disappearance (95%), partial response
(1.3%), and no response (3.8%).
Pathological Diagnosis and Classification.
All tissue specimens were fixed in Bouins fixative (75% saturated
picric acid, 25% formalin, and 5% glacial acetic acid) and
paraffin-embedded for light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. The
diagnosis was based on morphological examination after H&E staining. It
was further assisted by immunostaining of leukocyte common antigen and
cytokeratin in 20 cases, to facilitate the differential diagnosis with
a malignant lymphoma or a sarcoma. NPC specimens were classified
according to the WHO Histological Classification into three main
subtypes: keratinizing SCC (1 of 90), NKC (69 of 90), and UC (20 of
90). Several patterns of differentiation were often mixed in the same
specimen, but only the predominant pattern was taken in account.
Immunohistochemical Staining for p53, Bcl2, and CD95 Proteins.
Staining of p53 and Bcl2 proteins was performed on 90 NPC specimens, of
which 88 were also stained with the anti-CD95. Five-micrometer sections
attached on silanized slides were dewaxed in xylene, rehydrated in
graded ethanol, and heated in a microwave oven in 10 mM
citrate buffer (pH 6) twice for 10 min at 500 W. They were then
incubated for 1530 min with the primary antibodies against p53, Bcl2,
or CD95, all three being mouse monoclonal antibodies from DAKO (clones
DO7, 124, and DX2, respectively). Immunobinding of anti-p53 and Bcl2
was visualized with biotin-labeled secondary antibodies and
streptavidine-peroxidase complexes with use of diaminobenzidine as a
chromogenic substrate (LSAB system; DAKO). CD95-staining was visualized
with the Catalyzed Amplification System (DAKO), which includes an
amplification step with biotinyl tyramide (18)
. Biopsies
were recorded as positive when >5% of tumor cells were stained,
taking in account five consecutive microscope fields. In addition, CD95
staining was scored with regard to the approximate percentage of
positive tumor cells and relative immunostaining intensity, as
previously reported (19)
. The percentage of positive tumor
cells was graded as: 0, none; 1, 125%; 2, 2650%; 3, 5175%; 4,
76100%. Immunostaining intensity was rated as: 0, none; 1, weak; 2,
moderate; 3, intense. When tumors were heterogeneous in staining
intensity, each component of the tumor was scored independently and the
results were summed. For example, when a specimen contained 50% of the
tumor cells with moderate intensity (2 x 2 = 4), 25% of
tumor cells with intense immunostaining (1 x 3 = 3), and
25% of cells with weak intensity (1 x 1 = 1), the score was
4 + 3 + 1 = 8. The maximal possible score was 12.
Statistical Analysis.
The
2
test with the Yates correction was used
to evaluate differences in p53 and Bcl2 staining, which were analyzed
as qualitative variables. The Students t test was used to
assess the variations of the CD95 staining scores according to various
clinical parameters.
 |
RESULTS
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Sixty-four (71%) NPC biopsies were positively stained for p53 (1
SCC, 48 NKCs, and 15 UCs; Table 1
). As
reported previously for NPC, the p53 staining was restricted to the
nuclei of tumor cells (Refs. 10
and 20
; Fig. 1
). Immunohistochemical detection of p53
was not correlated with patient sex, disease stage, or tumor
histological type. In contrast, there was a very strong correlation
with patient age (Table 1)
. Only 38% of specimens were p53 positive
for patients <30 years of age compared with 81% for older patients
(P = 0.00013). The impact of patient age on p53
detection is clearly shown in Fig. 2
.
Among NPC patients recruited in our hospital, there was a relative
excess of patients in the 2nd decade of their life, as is consistently
the case for North African NPC series (3
, 6)
. In contrast,
there were only few patients in the 3rd decade. The number of patients
started, again, to increase after the age of 30, with a maximum between
41 and 60. For patients in the 2nd decade, a large majority of biopsies
were p53 negative. In contrast, most biopsies from patients over 30
years of age were p53 positive. Even more, in the case of patients
between 51 and 60 years of age, all biopsies (17 of 17) were p53
positive, without a single exception.
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Table 1 %p53 and Bcl2 protein detection in NPC specimens:
correlation with clinical and histopathological data
Classification of patients according to tumor stage, histopathological
type, and response to radiotherapy is explained in "Patients and
Methods." Ninety tumors were investigated for Bcl2 and p53
expression. Seventy-eight tumors were treated by irradiation and could
be evaluated for tumor response.
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Fig. 1. p53, Bcl2, and CD 95 staining on tissue
sections of NPC biopsies. A, one example of p53
immunostaining with nuclear distribution; most, but not all, malignant
cells within the tumor cords are positively stained (x400);
B, one example of Bcl2 immunostaining with a
characteristic cytoplasmic distribution (x400); C, one
example of intense CD95 staining (score 12; x400); D,
one example of average CD95 staining (score 8; x400).
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Concerning Bcl2, the staining was cytoplasmic, sometimes with a
granular appearance. Sixty-nine (77%) biopsies were positive (1 SCC,
56 NKCs, and 12 UCs; Table 1
and Fig. 1
). In most cases, Bcl2 and p53
were both detected or both absent. This association was statistically
significant (P = 0.0066; Table 2
). Like p53, the presence of Bcl2 was
not correlated with patient sex, disease stage, or tumor histological
type (Table 1)
. Again, there was a trend toward a correlation with
patient age, with more Bcl2-negative biopsies for patients under 30
years of age, but it was not statistically significant (Table 1)
.
The CD95 molecule was detected in all specimens without any exception,
however, with some variations in both the percentage of positive
malignant cells and the intensity of immunostaining (Table 3
and Fig. 1
). To assess possible
variations related to patient age or tumor stage, CD95 expression was
graded with a scoring system, taking in account the approximate
percentage of positive cells and the staining intensity. The observed
scores were comprised between 4 and 12, with an average of 8.42. As
shown in Table 3
, there was a modest, but statistically significant,
increase in the level of CD95 expression for patients at stage IV
compared with patients at stages II and III. In contrast, CD95
expression was not influenced by the age of the patients or the
histopathological type.
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|
Table 3 %CD95 protein expression in NPC specimens:
correlation with clinical and histopathological data
Eighty-eight tumors have been tested for CD95 expression. Seventy-seven
tumors were treated by irradiation and evaluable for tumor response.
Statistical significance was determined by the Students t
test.
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DISCUSSION
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According to most reports, p53 and Bcl2 can be visualized in
malignant cells of about 90% and 80% Asian NPCs, respectively
(9
, 10
, 12 , 21)
. The Chinese series reported by Harn
et al. (11)
is inconsistent with regard to
Bcl2, which was found in only 33% of biopsies, but not with regard to
p53, which was detected in 90% of the cases. In the present series of
North African NPCs, p53 and Bcl2 were seen in 71% and 77% of
biopsies, respectively, suggesting that the overall frequency of p53
overexpression is relatively smaller than in Asian NPCs. There was a
strong correlation of p53 and Bcl2 expression as reported for the
Chinese series of Sheu et al. (12)
. Concerning
CD95, we have previously reported that it was strongly expressed in two
NPC xenografted tumor lines and in a small series of frozen NPC
biopsies (22)
. In addition, in the same report, we have
shown that CD95 was still capable to mediate apoptosis in both NPC
tumor lines, including one derived from a metastatic lesion. Here, we
confirm that CD95 is constantly expressed by NPC cells, generally at a
high level, even at late stages of tumor evolution (stage IV). These
data contrast with previous studies on other types of human
carcinomasespecially lung and breast carcinomasthat have shown a
dramatic decrease in CD95 expression for advanced tumors (16
, 17)
.
The main finding of this study was the relatively low frequency of p53
accumulation for tumors from patients under 30 years of age. This
observation might be important for a better understanding of NPC
oncogenesis, which is known to result from the combination of viral,
genetic, and environmental factors (1)
. These factors
might, in fact, combine differently for Asian and North African
patients, and among North African patients, for patients of the two age
groups. Interestingly, distinct characteristics related to virus-tumor
interactions have already been reported for the two groups of North
African NPCs. Most patients <30 years of age have only one or two
copies of the EBV genome per malignant cell and no detectable serum IgA
against EBV antigens. In contrast, patients over 30 consistently have
an average copy number of 10 EBV genomes per malignant cells and high
titers of anti-EA and -VCA IgA (6)
. Presently, we can only
speculate on possible relationships between the EBV load in tumor cells
and the level of p53. But at least, these data suggest that in both age
groups malignant NPC cells tend to use distinct pathways to escape
apoptosis, retain the EBV genome, and complete malignant
transformation.
It is highly probable that p53 is in some way inactivated in NPC but it
is not yet clear how this is achieved. Several studies based on
PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism and DNA sequence have
found a very low frequency of p53 mutations in Asian and North African
NPCs, generally below 10% of the tumors (23, 24, 25)
.
Although there has been one recent study with a higher estimate, it
does not go beyond 25% of the cases (26)
. This suggests
that NPC p53 is often inactivated, and in many cases stabilized, by
epigenetic mechanisms. Because MDM2 is a major cellular effector of p53
inactivation, several groups have investigated its possible role in NPC
(27
, 28)
. Detection of MDM2 by immunohistochemistry has
been reported in about 30% tumors in a mixed series of Chinese and
European NPC biopsies (28)
. Surprisingly, an accumulation
of p53 was observed in the MDM2-positive specimens of this series, a
finding that seems inconsistent with the known stimulation of p53
degradation by MDM2 (29)
. Alternative mechanisms might
account for p53 inactivation in NPC, for example a loss of expression
of the p33 protein. p33, the product of the ING1 tumor
suppressor gene, binds p53; this interaction is required for p53
induction of p21 (30)
. Interestingly, loss of p33
expression in association with a nonmutated p53 has been recently
reported in a subset of gastric carcinomas (31)
. Our aim,
in future studies, will be to compare the status of MDM2, p33, and p53
in both age groups of North African NPC.
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FOOTNOTES
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 Supported by a joint grant for Cooperation in
Medical Research from the Direction Générale de la
Recherche Scientifique et Technique (Tunisia) and the Institut National
de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (France), by the
Sfax University Hospital (Tunisia), and by the French Association pour
la Recherche Contre le Cancer (Grant 5238). 
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at CNRS UMR 1598, Institut Gustave Roussy, 94805 Villejuif
Cedex, France. Phone: 33-1-42-11-45-83; Fax: 33-1-42-11-54-94; E-mail: pbusson{at}igr.fr 
3 The abbreviations used are: NPC, nasopharyngeal
carcinoma; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; NKC, nonkeratinizing
carcinoma; UC, undifferentiated carcinoma. 
Received 10/20/99;
revised 7/31/00;
accepted 8/ 8/00.
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