Academician Ma Jun’s team creates new standards for precision radiotherapy
Zhongda News Network (Correspondent Zhao Xianting) On February 20, 2025, the team of Academician Ma Jun, Professor Sun Ying, and Professor Tang Linglong from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center published the world's first clinical trial research article in the international oncology pinnacle journal "CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians" (impact factor 503.1). This breakthrough result is titled "Volume reduction radiotherapy compared with traditional radiotherapy after induction chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma", setting a precedent for the publication of this journal.
Screenshot of published article
CA is known as the "magic journal" in the industry. In the past, it mainly published cancer epidemiological reports and reviews. The paper published by Academician Ma Jun's team is the first original research result since the magazine was founded. It is reported that the magazine decided to try to accept clinical research for a year, and finally selected this study as the first clinical research result.
Disruptive innovation: writing new standards for precision radiotherapy
Nasopharyngeal cancer is most common in China, accounting for 47% of new cases worldwide. Radiotherapy is the radical cure for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but patients with intermediate and advanced stages need to receive chemotherapy before radiotherapy. Chemotherapy before radiotherapy shrinks tumors in 90% of patients. However, previous international guidelines recommended that the radiation range of radiotherapy should still include the range covered by the size of the tumor before chemotherapy, causing surrounding normal tissues (such as the inner ear and parotid gland) to receive high doses of radiation, causing irreversible side effects such as hearing loss and dry mouth, seriously affecting the patient's quality of life.
To this end, Academician Ma Jun's team conducted relevant research and adopted an internationally accepted standard multi-center, randomized, parallel-controlled design. 445 patients with intermediate and advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included and randomly divided into two groups: radiotherapy based on the tumor range after chemotherapy and before chemotherapy. The primary endpoint is 3-year locoregional recurrence-free survival rate, and secondary endpoints include toxicity and quality of life.
This multi-center phase III clinical trial confirmed that only irradiating the tumor area after chemotherapy did not increase recurrence, but significantly reduced toxic and side effects, significantly improved patients' quality of life, and enabled China's nasopharyngeal cancer diagnosis and treatment to achieve a leapfrog breakthrough from "preserving survival" to "excellent survival." The 3-year local and regional recurrence-free survival rate reaches 91.5% (the same as traditional therapy); severe radiation-induced oral mucositis is reduced by 40%, the incidence of late-stage severe otitis media is sharply reduced by 50%, and dry mouth symptoms are improved by 60%; the overall health status, physical status, and emotional function are significantly improved, and the symptoms of dry mouth and sticky saliva are reduced.
Guiding global practice: China’s solutions lead the world
At the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in October 2024, this study was presented as the latest breakthrough (Late Breaking Abstract, LBA) oral report (70 research submissions to LBA worldwide, 7 studies were selected), which shocked the global medical community and was evaluated as being expected to be adopted by domestic and foreign guidelines to guide global clinical practice.
Oral presentation at the 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting
This is another major breakthrough in the field of nasopharyngeal cancer by the team of Academician Ma Jun of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. Under the severe situation of nasopharyngeal cancer, "China accounts for 47% of the world's cases", Academician Ma Jun's team has been focusing on people's lives and health, and has been deeply involved in the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer for 20 years. It has worked step by step on the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer, and gradually promoted the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer to achieve a leap from "preserving survival" to "excellent survival". It has taken the lead in formulating "international standards" for the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer, allowing China to achieve a leap from following to leading in the field of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Leading the International Universal Staging Standard (UICC/AJCC), 8 of the 12 revisions come from the research results of this team.
He pioneered the theoretical system and treatment strategy of "improving efficacy and reducing toxicity" for nasopharyngeal cancer. His papers were published in four major clinical journals including NEJM, Lancet (3 articles), JAMA (2 articles), and BMJ (2 articles). He won 2 of the top ten scientific and technological advances in Chinese universities, 3 of the top 10 advances in life sciences in China, 2 major advances in Chinese medicine from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and 3 second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
Promote the update of the diagnosis and treatment path of the U.S. NCCN Guidelines. Five of the six major adjustments are based on the research of this team. As the chairman, he took the lead in formulating the "China-American Society of Clinical Oncology International Guidelines for the Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Cancer" and the "China-U.S.-Europe International Guidelines for Radiotherapy Target Volume Delineation of Nasopharyngeal Cancer."
The world's largest nasopharyngeal cancer treatment center has been built. Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center treats more than 7,000 cases of nasopharyngeal cancer every year, ranking first in the global academic ranking of nasopharyngeal cancer by the European institution "Expertscape".
Cultivated 6 high-level talents, including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, established the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs/Ministry of Education's "Basic Research Innovation and Talent Introduction Base for Individualized Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment (111 Plan)", and was selected into the Innovation Team in Key Areas of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Innovation Team of the Ministry of Education.
This study is an open, non-inferior, multi-center phase III randomized controlled clinical trial led by the team of Academician Ma Jun from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and jointly completed by Zhongshan People's Hospital and Foshan First People's Hospital. Academician Ma Jun, Professor Sun Ying, Professor Tang Linglong, Deputy Chief Physician Guo Rui, and Professor Xie Fangyun of the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center are the corresponding authors of this article. Professor Tang Linglong, Dr. Chen Lin, Professor Xu Guiqiong (Zhongshan People's Hospital), Professor Zhang Ning (Foshan First People's Hospital), and postdoctoral fellow Huang Chenglong are the co-first authors.
Paper link:
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21881