ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the expression of Testin gene, and analyze its possible relationship with the clinicopathological features of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma.@*METHOD@#The expression of Testin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry methods, semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. The correlations of Testin to clinicopathologic features of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were analyzed.@*RESULT@#The positive expression rate of Testin in NPC biopsy tissue was 37.8% (17/ 45), while it was 88.9% (40/45) in the normal tissue; The expression of Testin mRNA was significantly lower than that in the normal tissue (P 0.05); but it had significant correlation with lympho node metastasis, distant metastasis and differentiation degree.@*CONCLUSION@#The decreased expression of Testin gene may play an importmant role in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. And thus Testin gene might be a novel candidate of tumor-suppressor. It may be an objective marker for prognostic factor and malignant level for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.