The Expressions Of TAp73α And △Np73 In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma And The Clinical Significance

Objective: To investigate the expressions of TAp73α and △Np73 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) and to analyze the clinical interrelation.Methods: Between 1 May,2004 and 31 July,2005 all 121 untreated with NPC,diagnosed pathologically and received Conventional Radiotherapy at Hunan Cancer Hospital, were investigated and selected in the study. The correlation between the expressions of TAp73α, △Np73 and clinical feature,the survival in 121 NPC by immunohistochemistry(IHC) was determined.Results: 1. No significant relativeness was found between the expression of TAp73α and sex, age(p>0.05). The positive expression of TAp73α in stage T1+T2(82.6%) was higher than in stage T3+T4(62.1%), and they had significant differences in statistics(x2=5.366,p=0.021). The positive expression of TAp73α in lymph node metastasis and in non-lymph node metastasis was 78.6% and 72.2%, and they had no significant differences in statistics(p>0.05).The positive expression of TAp73α in the survival and in the death was 72.2% and 80.5%, and there was no significant difference in statistics(p>0.05). 2. No significant relativeness was found between the of ex-pression of △Np73 and sex, age(p>0.05). The positive expression of △Np73 in stage T1+T2(29.3%) was lower than in stage T3+T4(69.0%), which had significant differences in statistics(x2=14.569,p=0.000). The positive expression of △Np73 in lymph node metastasis and in non-lymph node metastasis was 36.8% and 50.0%, which had no significant differences in statistics(p>0.05). The positive expression of △Np73 in the survival(31.2%) was lower than in the death(53.7%), and in statistics they had significant differences(x2=5.730,p=0.017). 3. 94 cases of the positive expression of TAp73α was found, while 27 cases of the negative. 47 cases of the positive expression of △Np73 was found, while 74 cases of the negative. And positive expressions of TAp73α and △Np73 had 42 cases of NPC,while negative expressions of TAp73α and △Np73 had 22 cases. The expression of TAp73α and △Np73 was in a positive correlation(r=0.223, p=0.014). 4. There was no significant relativeness between the expression of TAp73α and the overall survival(p>0.05),while the negative expression of △Np73 had a higher overall survival than the positive(p=0.018).Conclusion: 1. There is no significant correlation between the expression of TAp73α, △Np73 and sex, age and lymph node metastasis. 2. The negative of expression of TAp73α and the positive expression of △Np73 in NPC may have a large-scale local invasion. 3. The positive expression of △Np73 has a lower overall survival than the negative, which may be a predictor of a poor prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.