Low expression of Cyfip1 may be a potential biomarker in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Xiang Shi, Xu Chen, Wen Li, Li Mo, Zhong Lin, Yin Li, Zheng Yang,  Wu Mo

Abstract:

Cytoplasmic FMR1 interacting protein 1 (Cyfip1) is a new candidate tumor suppressor gene, which may play an important role in the occurrence and development of cancers. However, the roles of Cyfip1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain poorly unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the Cyfip1 mRNA expression in NPC and its association with clinical pathologic features. The study population comprised 114 Chinese individuals, including 69 NPC tissues and 45 non-cancerous nasopharyngeal tissues. We used real-time fluorescent relatively quantitative PCR to evaluate the Cyfip1 mRNA expression in NPC tissues and non-cancerous nasopharyngeal tissues. The expression level of Cyfip1 mRNA was significantly lower in patients with NPC than those in the control samples (P=0.001). Furthermore, low expression level of Cyfip1 mRNA was significantly associated with invasive range (T3-T4 vs T1-T2, P=0.001), lymph node metastasis (N1-N3 vs N0, P=0.010), distant metastases (M1 vs M0, P=0.040) , and clinical stage (III-IV vs I-II, P﹤0.001). Our results suggest the association between Cyfip1 mRNA expression and NPC, detecting the expression of Cyfip1 may provide clinically useful information for diagnosis, progression and treatment methods in NPC.