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Objective: By analyzing the expression of pepsin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues, to investigate the correlation between laryngeal reflux (LPR) and NPC, as well as the effect of LPR on the quality of life of patients with NPC after radiotherapy. Methods: A total of 133 patients with NPC who underwent radiotherapy at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University and the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from 2005 to 2019 were enrolled consecutively, including 90 males and 43 females, aged (44.32±7.47) years old. At the same period, 58 patients with chronic nasopharyngitis who underwent nasopharyngeal biopsy were selected as the control group. Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of pepsin in nasopharyngeal specimens of the two groups. In addition, 188 normal individuals were selected as the normal group in the same period. NPC patients before and within 6 months after radiotherapy were inverstigated by the General Information Questionnaire and the Quality of Life Scale, and the pepsin levels in saliva of NPC patients before and after radiotherapy and the individuals in normal group were measured. SPSS 21.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: Pepsin expression in 133 specimens of NPC patients was strongly positive in 24 cases (18.05%), positive in 21 cases (15.79%), weakly positive in 69 cases (51.88%), and negative in 19 cases (14.29%). The specimens of control group had 10 cases of weakly positive (17.24%), 48 cases of negative (82.76%), but no strong positive or positive pepsin expression. The rate of positive pepsin expression in the NPC group was higher than that in the control group, with a statistically significant (χ 2 =83.15, P< 0.001). The pepsin content in the saliva of NPC patients after radiotherapy ((30.31±7.82) ng/ml) was higher than that before radiotherapy ((20.47±8.21) ng/ml) and the normal group (5.11±2.13) ng/ml), and the pepsin content in saliva before radiotherapy was higher than that in the normal group, and all differences were statistically significant (all P< 0.05). After radiotherapy, the five functional domains of quality of life and overall quality of life of NPC patients decreased, while the related symptom scores increased (all P< 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that pepsin content in saliva was the influential factor of five functional domains of quality of life, related symptoms and overall quality of life in NPC patients after radiotherapy (all P< 0.05). Conclusion: The positive rate of pepsin expression in NPC tissues is high, and the pepsin in saliva before and after radiotherapy of NPC patients is significantly higher than that in normal, suggesting that LPR may be involved in the process of NPC and affect the quality of life after radiotherapy in NPC patients.

Objective: To elucidate the promotive role of TRPP2 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) proliferation by targeting Skp2/c-Myc, thus accelerating the malignant progression., Patients and Methods: TRPP2 levels in NPC patients with different T stages were detected. Correlation between TRPP2 level and clinical features of NPC patients was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves were depicted for assessing the prognostic value of TRPP2 in NPC. Subsequently, regulatory effects of TRPP2 on viability and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU)-positive ratio were determined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and EdU assay, respectively. Relative levels of Skp2 and c-Myc in NPC cells transfected with si-TRPP2 were examined. At last, the involvement of c-Myc in TRPP2-regulated proliferative ability of NPC was evaluated by performing rescue experiments., Results: TRPP2 was upregulated in NPC tissues. TRPP2 level was higher in NPC patients with T3+T4 than those with T1+T2. Worse survival was observed in NPC patients expressing high level of TRPP2. TRPP2 level was correlated to T stage, N stage, M stage, and locoregional failure of NPC patients. Knockdown of TRPP2 reduced viability and EdU-positive ratio in NPC cells. In addition, relative levels of Skp2 and c-Myc in NPC cells transfected with si-TRPP2 were downregulated. Overexpression of c-Myc could partially reverse the regulatory effects of TRPP2 on NPC proliferation., Conclusions: TRPP2 stimulates NPC cells to proliferate by upregulating expressions of Skp2/c-Myc, thus deteriorating the development of NPC.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to uncover the correlations of expression levels of microRNA-429 (miRNA-429) and SOX2 with clinical parameters and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma., Patients and Methods: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (n=95) and nasopharyngitis patients (n=95) in the same period were enrolled. The relative levels of miRNA-429 and SOX2 in nasopharyngeal tissues collected from these patients were detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Then, the potential correlation between miRNA-429 and SOX2 was analyzed by Pearson correlation test. Next, the influences of miRNA-429 and SOX2 levels on clinical parameters of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were assessed. At last, the factors influencing the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were determined using the Cox regression model., Results: It was found that downregulated miRNA-429 and upregulated SOX2 were observed in nasopharyngeal tissues collected from nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. MiRNA-429 level was negatively correlated with that of SOX2 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues. In addition, miRNA-429 and SOX2 levels were related to age, tumor differentiation, T stage, N stage, and clinical grade of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Moreover, worse prognosis was seen in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients expressing low level of miRNA-429 or high level of SOX2. Furthermore, Cox regression analysis showed that T3-T4 stage, moderate to high differentiation, and high level of SOX2 were risk factors, while high level of miRNA-429 was the protective factor for nasopharyngeal carcinoma., Conclusions: Downregulation of miRNA-429 and upregulation of SOX2 are unfavorable to the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.