[Expression and significance of tyrosine kinase receptors B in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients].

Objective: This study was to explore the expression and clinicopathologic features of Tyrosine kinase receptors B (TrkB) and its ligand brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Method: Immunohistochemistry was adopted to detect the expression level of TrkB and BDNF in NPC patients.
Result: Both TrkB and BDNF were expressed in NPC as well as in chronic inflammation. The active expression rate of TrkB in NPC was 82.5% (47/57) and BDNF was 52.6% (30/57), both of which were higher than those in chronic inflammation (P < 0.05). The degree of TrkB expression was more marked in T3 + T4, III + IV stage NPC than that in T1 +T2, I + II stage NPC (P < 0.05). TrkB abnormal expression rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma with lymph node metastasis was higher than that of NPC without lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). No statistical significance for degrees of TrkB expression in pathologic type grades was found (P > 0.05). There were no statistical significance for degrees of BDNF expression in T stage, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis in NPC (P > 0.05). The expression of TrkB was unrelated to the expression of BDNF (r = 0.049, P > 0.05).
Conclusion: The high expression rate of TrkB and BDNF maybe plays an important role in development of NPC. It is suggested that TrkB and its ligand BDNF may act as an important index for forecasting the development and metastasis of NPC.