title: Analysis of the expression of Fas-L in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues.
abstract: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial cancer with a high incidence in Southeast Asia. How it escapes attack from the host immune system is not fully understood. Recently, pieces of evidence show that Fas-ligand (Fas-L)-mediated apoptosis may be involved in immune privilege of tumours. To determine whether a similar mechanism may exist in NPC, the expression of Fas-L was analysed. Biopsy specimens of the nasopharynx were taken from 27 NPC patients. Histologically, they were either non-keratinizing or undifferentiated carcinomas. Nasopharyngeal biopsies of 11 other patients that proved to have no tumour served as control. The transcripts of Fas-L were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Localization of Fas-L protein was performed with immunohistostaining using an antibody recognizing human Fas-L. All nasopharyngeal tissues have a similar amount of transcripts of Fas-L. However, the Fas-L protein was detected exclusively on the cell surface of malignant epithelial cells of NPC. The present findings suggest that Fas-L protein may be involved in evading immune attack of NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger