RASSF1A was positive in 29/44 as the most sensitive marker (66 %) after EBNA1. Among the previously published MMSP assay marker genes, DAPK showed the lowest sensitivity 11/44 (25 %) in Moroccan NPC DNA samples, and the specificity was 13/18 (72 %) when comparing to non-cancerous nasopharyngeal epithelium from the same geographic location. Here, DAPK1 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.