Expression and clinical significance of Wnt-1 and β-catenin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background and Objective: As signaling molecule and key component of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway respectively, Wnt-1 and β-catenin are abnormally expressed in several malignancies and correlate with poor prognosis. This study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of Wnt-1 and β-catenin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: The expression of Wnt-1 and β-catenin in 111 specimens of NPC was detected by SP immunohistochemistry. Their correlations to relapse-free survival (RFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed. Results: The high expression of β-catenin was observed in 64 (57.7%) of the 111 cases. Its high expression rate was significantly higher in advanced NPC than in early stage NPC (63.1% vs. 40.7%, p = 0.041). The RFS, MFS and PFS were lower in high β-catenin expression group than in low β-catenin expression group (p 0.05). Conclusions: Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway may be activated abnormally in some NPC patients. β-catenin may be a prognostic factor of NPC. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common malignancy in southern China. Its 5-year survival rate has been significantly improved in recent years, however, relapse and metastasis are still the main failure patterns. Clinical staging is currently the major measure to evaluate the prognosis of NPC, however, patients at the same stage may have different prognosis. Therefore, it’s necessary to explore