Expression of p53 and nm23-H1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and their significance

Objective To sdudy the expression of p53 and nm23-H1 proteins and their clinical significance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods The expression of p53 and nm23-H1 proteins were detected by immunohistochemistry method in 40 cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 22 cases with chronic inflammation of nasopharyngeal mucosa tissues.Results Positive rates of p53 and nm23-H1 in chronic nasopharyngitis group were 1.0 ％,27.2 ％,and in the NPC group were 92.5 ％,55.0 ％.There were 9 cases with the positive expression of p53 in 22 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues with the positive expression of nm23-H1 (40.9 ％).There were 17 cases with the positive expression of p53 in 18 cases with the negative expression of nm23-H1 (94.4 ％).The expression of p53 and nm23-H1 proteins in nasopharyngeal carcinoma were much higher than that in chronic inflammation of nasopharyngeal mucosa tissues.The expression of p53 protein in nasopharyngeal carcinoma with metastatic lymph node was higher than that in nasopharyngeal carcinoma without metastatic lymph node,but nm23-H1 protein lower.The expression of p53 protein was positively correlated with the metastasis,clinnical staging and pathological classification but not correlated with T classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.The expression of nm23-H1 protein was negative correlation with the metastasis and clinical staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Conclusion p53 and nm23-H1 play important coordinated regulation roles in the carcinogenesis,development and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and will probably become the key biological marks in the judging and evaluating prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Key words: Nasopharyngeal neoplasms;  p53 protein;  nm23-H1 protein;  Lymph node metastasis