ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the chemokine 12 (CXCL12) and chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) expressions in hypopharyngeal carcinoma and its place in the disease development,invasion and metastasis of significance.Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expressions of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in 35 cases of hypopharyngeal cancer tissues and in 28 cases of tumor-adjacent non-tumor tissues.Results The expressions of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in the hypopharynx carcinomas were significantly higher (P ＜ 0.05).Both expressed in hypopharyngeal carcinomas was significantly positively correlated (P ＜ 0.01).Both hypopharynx cancer in lymph node metastasis group were significantly higher than the expression of cervical lymph node metastasis group,the difference was significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions CXCL12 and CXCR4 are involved in hypopharynx cancer development,invasion and metastasis,and there is a positive feedback regulation mechanism between two factors.Moreover,CXCL12 and CXCR4 have synergistic effect in development,invasion and metastasis of hypopharynx cancers.