Potential use of nucleic acid-based agents in the sensitization of nasopharyngeal carcinoma to radiotherapy

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly metastatic cancer. The 2-year survival rate of patients with stage III or IV disease is only about 50%. Due to its high radiosensitivity, radiotherapy is the standard treatment for early-stage of NPC. However, the radioresistance observed in some patients can cause distant metastases and local recurrence after radiotherapy. Special emphasis has been given to the discovery of effective radiosensitizers. Oncogenic proteins encoded by EBV genomes may serve as part of targeted radiosensitization, such as NF кB-mediated expression of latent membrane protein-1. We here review the major nucleic acid-based options currently used in cancer therapeutic approaches and the selected candidate genes that can be targeted for NPC radiosensitization.