MAPK8 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: There are three main subfamilies of MAPK: the ERK, the c-Jun N-terminal (JNK) or stress-activated protein kinases (SAPK), and MAPK14 (P38-α).126 The cascade activation of MAPK is an important pathway for the survival, proliferation, and drug resistance of cancer cells.127 In the MAPK pathway, recurrent mutations of its activators or regulators (FGFR2, FGFR3, BRAF1, NF1, and ERBB3) were detected in NPC samples.25 Hotspot mutations of KRAS, HRAS, and NRAS genes, promoter hypermethylation of RASAL, and DAB2 genes are also found.29,128