Clinical Significance of Serum Iron Metabolism-Related Markers in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Introduction: It is known that iron metabolism is dysregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, a meaningful assessment of the iron metabolic status in cancer patient is still under debate. This study aims to evaluate the status of iron metabolism, as well as to explore the correlation between those related serum markers and clinicopathological features of patients with NPC. Methods: Peripheral blood was collected from 191 pretreatment NPC patients and 191 healthy controls. The red blood cell parameters, plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load, serum iron (SI), total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin, soluble transferrin receptor (sTFR), ferritin, and hepcidin were quantitatively detected. Results: The mean levels of hemoglobin and red blood cell count in the NPC group were significantly lower than those in the control group, while no statistical differences in mean MCV were found between the two groups. Median levels of SI, TIBC, transferrin, and hepcidin were significantly lower in the NPC group than in the control group. Compared to patients with the T1-T2 classification, patients with the T3-T4 classification exhibited significantly lower expression levels of SI and TIBC. Serum levels of ferritin and sTFR were significantly higher in patients with M1 classification than those with M0 classification. The EBV DNA load was associated with serum levels of sTFR and hepcidin. Conclusion: NPC patients had functional iron deficiency. The degree of iron deficiency was related to the tumor burden and metastasis of NPC. EBV might be involved in the regulation of iron metabolism in the host.