Expression And Clinical Significance Of Testin In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective: Our purpose was to investigate the expression of Testin gene and its possible relationship with the clinic pathological features of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: The expression of Testin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues were detected by immunohistochemical methods, semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot. The correlations of Testin to clinic pathologic features of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were analyzed. Results: The mRNA level of Testin was down-regulated in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The positive rate of Testin protein was significantly lower in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues than that in nomal tissues. The protein level of Testin was down-regulated in cancers as compared with corresponding normal tissues. Testin expression was positively correlated with the differentiation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Meanwhile, differences in gender and age were not significant (P>0.05). There was a significant correlation between invasion, distant metastasis and differentiation degree and Testin expression (P<0.05 respectively). Conclusion: The decreased expression of Testin gene may play an important role in the development of esophageal squamous cancer. And thus Testin gene might be a novel candidate of tumor-suppressor. It may be an objective marker for prognostic factor and malignant level for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.