Expression of p16, nm23-H1, E-cadherin, and CD44 gene products and their significance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective: The present study was aimed to determine whether p16/MTS1, nm23- H1, E-cadherin, and CD44 proteins were expressed in nasopharyngeal carcinom a (NPC) and whether those expressions were pathologically significant in th e progress of NPC. Method. We examined noncancerous nasopharyngeal mucosa ( 20 cases) and NPC (80 cases) using immunohistochemistry with six different types of monoclonal antibodies against p16, nm23-H1, E-cadherin, CD44H, CD4 4v3, and CD44v6 proteins. Results: The results showed that 1) the rates of positive p16 protein expression and of preserved E-cadherin protein express ion in NPC were significantly lower than those in non-cancerous tissue (P < .01); 2) no significant difference in the rate of positive expression of n m23-H1, CD44H, CD44v3, and CD44v6 proteins were observed between non-cancer ous nasopharyngeal mucosa and NPC; 3) no significant difference in the expr ession of those proteins were found by respective correlation analyses of s ex, stage, and size of primary tumor in NPC; and 4) no significant differen ce in the rates of positive expression of CD44H, CD44v3, and CD44v6 protein s were observed in NPC between with and without lymph node metastasis, indi cating that those gene products did not correlate with lymph node metastasi s in NPC. However, there were inverse correlations between the expression o f p16, nm23-H1, or E-cadherin protein and lymph node metastasis (P < .05), indicating that the expression of p16, nm23-H1, and E-cadherin gene were re lated to the carcinogenesis and tumor progression of NPC. Conclusion: Detec ting the expressions of those gene products may provide clinically valuable information for therapeutic strategy and for predicting the prognosis of p atients with NPC.