Significance of CD147 and E-cadherin protein expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective To investigate the significance of CD147 and E-cadherin expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).Methods Expression of CD147 and E-cadherin in 55 NPCs and 35 columnar epithelia of nasopharyngeal mucosa was detected by SP immunhistochemical method.Results In NPC and nasopharyngeal mucosal columnar epithelia,the positive expression rates of CD147 were 74.55% and 43.24%(P0.01),and those of E-cadherin were 41.82% and 64.86(P0.05),respectively.The expression of CD147 and E-cadherin was negatively correlated in NPC(r=-0.269,P0.05).Conclusion There exist CD147 overexpression and E-cadherin downexpression in NPC.The combined detection of CD147 and E-cadherin can be pivotal in evaluation of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and prognosis in NPC.