[Correlation of endothelin A receptor expression to prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
Endothelin A receptor (ET(A)R) activation contributes to tumor growth and metastasis, including cell proliferation, cell death, angiogenesis, and metastatic spread. In this study, we evaluated correlation of ET(A)R expression to clinical features of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and explored its correlation to prognosis.


METHODS
Expression of ET(A)R in 153 specimens of NPC was detected by SABC immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
Positive rate of ET(A)R was 73.9% in the 153 NPC specimens. No correlation was found between ET(A)R expression and gender, age, T stage, N stage, and TNM stage of the patients. The 3-year overall survival rate, relapse-free survival rate, and distant metastasis-free survival rate were significantly higher in ET(A)R-negative patients than in ET(AR-positive patients (87.5% vs. 73.2%, P = 0.029; 80.0% vs. 57.3%, P = 0.009; and 89.9% vs. 70.4%, P = 0.012), except for local relapse-free survival rate (86.9% vs. 80.2%, P = 0.228). Cox multivariate analysis showed that ET(A)R expression, gender, age, T stage, and N stage were independent prognostic factors, which affected overall survival, relapse-free survival, and distant metastasis.


CONCLUSIONS
ET(A)R expression is an important distant metastasis-related risk factor for patients with NPC; its overexpression indicates poor prognosis.
Mai
Hai-Qiang
HQ
Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P.R.China.
Zeng
Zong-Yuan
ZY
Zhang
Hui-Zhong
HZ
Hou
Jing-Hui
JH
Mo
Hao-Yuan
HY
Guo
Xiang
X
Min
Hua-Qing
HQ
Hong
Ming-Huang
MH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D044022:Receptor, Endothelin A / Q000378:metabolism*; D015996:Survival Rate
D044022:Receptor, Endothelin A