Risk Factors

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What Are the Risk Factors for Nasopharyngeal Cancer?

A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. For example, exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer. Smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx, bladder, kidney, and several other organs. But having a risk factor, or even several, does not mean that a person will get the disease.

Scientists have identified certain risk factors that make a person more likely to develop nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC).

Diet: People who live in areas of Asia, northern Africa, and the Arctic region, where NPC is common, typically eat diets very high in salt-cured fish and meat. Indeed, the rate of this cancer is dropping in southeast China as people begin eating a more “Western” diet.

Epstein-Barr virus infection: Almost all nasopharyngeal cancer cells contain the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This virus is common throughout the world. In most cases, this infection causes only infectious mononucleosis, commonly known as "mono." But in ways that are not completely understood there is a complex link between EBV infection and NPC. EBV infection alone is not sufficient to cause NPC, since this cancer is rare and infection with this virus so common. Many studies have found high levels of this virus in the blood of people with nasopharyngeal cancer.

Genetic factors: Just as people have different blood types, they also have different tissue types. For example, donated blood must be tested to ensure the blood type is compatible with the recipient before a transfusion is done. Likewise, tissue types must be considered when organs or tissues are transplanted from a donor to a patient. Recent studies have found that people with certain inherited tissue types are at increased risk of developing NPC.

Also, family members of people with NPC are more likely to get this cancer. Whether this is due to environmental factors or genetic ones, or both, is not known.

ACS :: What Are the Risk Factors for Nasopharyngeal Cancer?