Expression of cathepsin l in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its clinical significance

• Published in: Experimental Oncology
• Date: 2009
• Main Authors: Xu, X., Yuan, G., Liu, W., Zhang, Y., Chen, W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Інститут експериментальної патології, онкології і радіобіології ім. Р.Є. Кавецького НАН України 2009
• Subjects: Original contributions
• Online Access: https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/135696
• Journal Title: Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
• Cite this: Expression of cathepsin l in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its clinical significance / X. Xu, G. Yuan, W. Liu, Y. Zhang, W. Chen // Experimental Oncology. — 2009. — Т. 31, № 2. — С. 102-105. — Бібліогр.: 19 назв. — англ.

Aim: To study the expression of cathepsin L in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and analyze its relationship with clinicopathologic factors. Methods: The expression of cathepsin L was determined immunohistochemically in NPC, adjacent normal nasopharyngeal tissues and metastatic cervical lymph nodes. The correlation between its protein expression and clinicopathologic parameters as well as with long term follow-up data in NPC was analyzed. Results: The protein of cathepsin L was overexpressed in 47% primary tumor tissues, and in 89% metastatic cervical lymph node samples. Overexpression of cathepsin L was found to correlate with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.04) and distant metastasis (P = 0.01), and marginally with clinical stage and T classification, but not with patient age, gender and histological classification of tumor. Patients with overexpression of cathepsin L in tumor tissue had worse 5-year survival than those without such expression pattern (P= 0.033). Multivariate survival analysis showed that cathepsin L protein expression level had a marginal significant correlation with prognosis of NPC. Conclusion: Cathepsin L is a potential biomarker for prognosis of NPC and contributes to NPC metastasis.