Abstract: Objective To investigate the value of serum globulin levels before treatment in predicting the prognosis of patients
with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods A total of 127 patients with non-disseminated NPC were recruited between
January, 2009 and December, 2013 at Nanfang Hospital. The pretreatment serum globulin levels were analyzed with the
receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to select the cut-off point for low and high pretreatment serum globulin
levels. Kaplan-Meier and multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the predictive value of serum globulin levels. Results
The ROC curve analysis determined 30.05 g/L as the optimal cut-off value for pretreatment serum globulin level, which was
significantly associated with gender (P=0.024) and N stage (P=0.016). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a high pretreatment
serum globulin level (>30.05 g/L) significantly predicted poor progression-free survival (P=0.019), overall survival (P=0.034)
and distant metastasis-free survival (P=0.049); multivariate analysis identified pretreatment serum globulin level as an
independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (HR=2.344, P=0.031). Conclusion Pretreatment serum globulin
level may serve as a valuable marker to predict the prognosis of patients with NPC.