Affiliation:
1. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer Sun Yat‐Sen University Cancer Center Guangzhou China
2. School of Public Health Sun Yat‐Sen University Guangzhou China
Abstract
AbstractSaliva biopsy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has been developed in our latest study, indicating the application of oral sampling in NPC detection. Further exploration of the potential for self‐sampling from the oral cavity is necessary. A total of 907 various samples from oral cavity, including saliva (n = 262), oropharyngeal swabs (n = 250), oral swabs (n = 210), and mouthwash (n = 185), were collected. Epstein‒Barr virus (EBV) DNA methylation at the 12,420 bp CpG site in EBV genome from the repeat‐copy W promoter (Wp) region and at the 11,029 bp CpG site in the single‐copy C promoter (Cp) region were simultaneously detected in these samples. A significant increase in EBV methylation, no matter at Wp or Cp region, was found in all types of samples from NPC patients. However, EBV DNA methylation in saliva and oropharyngeal swab showed a better diagnostic performance in detecting NPC. The combination of these two sample types and two markers could help to improve the detection of NPC. Our study further explored the optimal self‐sampling methods and detection target in the detection of NPC and may facilitate the application of EBV DNA methylation detection in a home‐based large‐scale screening of NPC.
Funder
National Key Research and Development Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation of China