High incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer: Similarity for 60% of mitochondrial DNA signatures between the Bidayuhs of Borneo and the Bai-yue of Southern China

Abstract

Populations in Southern China (Bai-yue) and Borneo (Bidayuh) with high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) share similar mitochondrial DNA signatures, supporting the hypothesis that these two populations may share the same genetic predisposition for NPC, which may have first appeared in a common ancestral reference population before the sea levels rose after the last ice age.