RANK expression in EBV associated nasopharyngeal cancer metastasis in non-endemic setting: a possible immunologic pathway to be targeted?

Background: Although the intrinsic chemo–radiosensitivity of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) enables to achieve high regional control rate, reports have shown high rate of distant relapses, especially bone metastasis. In prostate and breast cancer, RANK is expressed with high concordance between bone metastasis and corresponding primary tumor; moreover, RANKL expression is found in tumor-infiltrating Tregs, inhibiting antitumoral immunity. In NPC,...