In an attempt to determine if mutations in p53 facilitate the development of malignant clones in NPC, several types of mutations including single-point mutation, frameshifts, deletions, and duplications were observed to be highly frequent among nude mouse-passaged tumors, and very less frequent among metastatic and primary tumor, indicating that p53 mutations are less likely to mediate initial pathogenesis of clonal outgrowth of NPC [44]. Here, TP53 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.