Expression of interleukin-8 receptor A predicts poor outcome in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objectives/Hypothesis.- The authors recently demonstrated that interleukin-8 (IL-8) is induced by Epstein-Barr virus encoding latent membrane protein 1 and that IL-8 is overexpressed in tumor cells and correlates significantly with angiogenesis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The present objective was to investigate the expressions and the roles of IL-8 receptors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Design: Retrospective patient file review and immunohistochemical study of tissues of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: The authors examined the expressions of two high-affinity IL-8 receptors, IL-8 receptor A IL8RA) and IL-8 receptor B (IL8RB), in 30 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma by immunohistochemical analysis. Results: As expected, both IL-8 receptors were expressed on microvessels in tumor nests and surrounding stroma. Interestingly, they were also abundantly expressed on tumor cells. The expressions of IL8RA and IL8RB had no associations with gender, metastasis, or clinical stage. However, the expression of IL8RA in tumors significantly correlated with a shorter overall survival rate (P =.0045). Although the estimated 5-year overall survival rate for IL8RA-negative patients was 68.2%, that in IL8RA-positive patients was only 33.3%. Conclusion: The study results suggest that the expression of IL8RA in tumor cells becomes an important indicator of poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.