The Clinical Significance And Expression Of Thymidine Phosphorylase In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective:To investigate the expression of thymidine phosphorylase(TP)in the tissue of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) and its clinical significances.Methods:We examined the expression of TP in 51 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma using immunohistochemistry Elivision method.10 cases of endorhinitis tissues and 10 cases of rhinopolypus tissues were assessed as controls. Correlation between TP expression in NPC tissues and clinicopathologic factors, efficacy of fluorouracil derivative, the long-term survival of NPC patients was analyzed.Results:(1) TP was positive in 35/51 (68.6%) cases which was significantly different from that in endorhinitis tissues(30%) and in rhinopolypus tissues(20%). (2) The expression of TP was not correlated with patient's sex, age, T stage, N stage, TNM stage, cranial nerve infiltration, recurrence or distant metastasis. (3) Carrying out survival analysis in the subgroup of NPC patients who received chemotherapy based on fluorouracil derivative, in which Log-rank test showed no significant differences in overall survival time between TP positive group and TP negative group. (4) Carrying out survival analysis in 51 cases of NPC patients, It is not different in 3-year and 4-year overall survival ratio between TP posiitive group and TP negative group. The multiple-factor Cox's model indicated recurrence or distant metastasis could be independent prognostic factor, TP might not be independent prognostic factor.Conclusion:TP overexpressed in NPC,which was significant higher than in endorhinitis tissues and in rhinopolypus tissues. The expression of TP was not correlated with clinicopathologic factors of NPC patients. In the chemotherapy based on fluorouracil derivative,the prognosis is not significantly different between TP posiitive patients and TP negative patients. The Cox's model indicated that TP might not be independent prognostic factor.