Differential expression of stromal cell-related genes between primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma and distant metastasis

Abstract

Stromal cells in the tumor microenviroment play an important role in development and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Aim of this study is to identify the stromal cell related genes which may promote distant metastasis in NPC. Materials and methods: Differently expressed genes were accessed by comparing nasopharyngeal carcinoma and distant metastasis by microarray. Then stromal cells related genes were analyzed by using statistics tools. Five selected genes were validated in 112 nasopharyngeal carcinoma specimens. Results: We have identified 3360 genes up-regulated (P < .05)and 2327 genes down-regulated(P < .05) in distant metastasis versus primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma, among the differently expressed genes,111 stromal cells related genes were picked up according to previous researches for cluster analysis and pathway analysis. Upon validating 5 selected genes (BIRC3,FRAS1,NPNT,POSTN,PCSK6) in 112 additional NPC cases, the authors found that expression of POSTN was negative correlated significantly with lymph node involvement (p = 0.006)and clinical stage(p = 0.035) at the moment of diagnosis and FRAS1 was negative correlated with disease-free survival (p = 0.002) and distant metastasis survival (p = 0.02).Conclusion: Increasing knowledge of metastasis promotion of stromal cells related genes may provide feasible explanations underlying NPC progression and metastasis along with the development of biomarkers for screening high-risk populations.