OBJECTIVE To explore the association between the expressions of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1), p53 and Ki67 in peripheral blood of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients complicated with EB virus infection and the progression of disease.

METHODS Totally 120 patients who were diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from Jan 2019 to Mar 2022 were enrolled in the study, 85 of whom were complicated with EB virus infection and were assigned as the infection group, and 35 were not complicated with infection and were assigned as the control group. The expression levels of peripheral blood LMP-1, p53 and Ki67 were detected, and the association between the above indexes and clinical characteristics of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients complicated with EB virus infection was observed.

RESULTS The positive rates of expressions of LMP-1, p53 and Ki67 of the infection group were higher than those of the control group(P < 0.05). The positive expressions of LMP-1, p53 and Ki67 were not associated with gender, age, T stage, pathological type, clinical stage or lymphatic metastasis but were associated with N stage (P < 0.05); the higher the N stage, the higher the positive rate of expression was (P < 0.05); the positive rates of expressions of the patients with distant metastasis were higher than those of the patients without distant metastasis (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION The positive rates of expressions of peripheral blood LMP-1, p53 and Ki67 are elevated in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients complicated with EB virus infection and were associated with the clinical N stage and lymphatic metastasis.