Objective To determine the levels of serum anterior gradient 2 (AGR2) before and after treatment in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, and investigate the relationship of AGR2 and clinical pathological characteristics of NPC patients.Methods The serum levels of AGR2 were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 55 NPC patients (NPC group) before and after treatment, 30 patients with nasopharyngeal inflammation (inflammation group) and 20 healthy controls (health control group).The correlations between serum AGR2 before and after treatment and clinical pathological characteristics of NPC were analyzed.The NPC patients received radiotherapy and were followed up for 6 months, and the therapeutic effect was evaluated.Results The serum AGR2 levels in NPC group before treatment, inflammation group and health control group were (22.92±5.24)μg/L, (9.50±4.15)μg/L and (8.75±2.18)μg/L respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (F=268.400, P=0.000).The level of serum AGR2 in NPC group was obviously higher than that in inflammation group (t=14.241, P=0.000) and health control group (t=15.254, P=0.000).The level of serum AGR2 in NPC group after treatment was significantly lower than that before treatment [(15.15±10.33)μg/L vs.(22.92±5.24)μg/L, t=12.774, P=0.000].In NPC patients, serum AGR2 levels of clinical Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage group before and after treatment were higher than those of clinical Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage group (t=5.938, P=0.000;t=0.759, P=0.032).Serum AGR2 levels of lymph node metastasis group before and after treatment were higher than those of no lymph node metastasis group (t=6.879, P=0.000;t=2.700, P=0.009).Serum AGR2 levels of carotid sheath and skull base involvement groups before treatment were higher than those of non-involvement groups (t=8.342, P=0.000;t=8.255, P=0.009).Serum AGR2 levels of cranial nerve involvement group before and after treatment were higher than those of non-involvement group (t=7.743, P=0.000;t=3.021, P=0.004).The serum AGR2 level after treatment in complete response patients [(13.86±2.93)μg/L] was significantly lower than that in partial response patients [(15.85±3.24)μg/L, t=2.267, P=0.028] and invalid patients [(20.65±6.59)μg/L, t=4.935, P=0.000].The serum AGR2 level in partial response patients was significantly lower than that in invalid patients (t=3.196, P=0.004).Conclusion The level of serum AGR2 in NPC patients increases obviously.AGR2 plays an important role in the genesis and development of NPC, and can be used as a new marker of NPC for judging the clinical therapeutic efficacy and prognosis.

Objective To investigate the expression level of serum microRNA-663 (miR-663) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and its relationships with clinicopathological features and prognosis.Methods The serums of 60 NPC patients (NPC group),40 patients with nasopharyngeal chronic inflammation (nasopharyngitis group) and 30 healthy subjects (health control group) were collected from June 2014 to April 2017 in our hospital.The relative expression levels of serum miR-663 were detected by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).The relationships between the expression of miR-663 and clinicopathological features were analyzed.The diagnostic value of serum miR-663 in patients with NPC was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.According to the optimal cut-off value determined by the ROC curve,the patients were divided into miR-663 ≥ optimal cut-off value group and miR-663 ＜ optimal cut-off value group,and prognosis analysis was performed for the two groups.Results The relative expression levels of miR-663 among NPC group (6.38 ± 2.05),nasopharyngitis group (3.11 ± 0.97) and health control group (1.74 ±0.75) were significantly different (F =107.722,P =0.001).Serum miR-663 level in NPC group was significantly higher than that in nasopharyngitis group and healthy control group,with significant differences (both P ＜0.001).The relative expression level of miR-663 in nasopharyngitis group was significantly higher than that in health control group,with a significant difference (P ＜ 0.001).The relative expression of serum miR-663 in patients with NPC was not related to patient's age,sex and differentiation (t =1.832,P =0.072;t =0.578,P =0.565;F =0.132,P =0.877).The relative expression of miR-663 in stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ (5.24 ±1.98) was significantly lower than that in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ (6.99 ± 1.84) of NPC patients,with a significant difference (t =3.417,P ＜ 0.001).The relative expression of serum miR-663 in patients with lymph node metastasis (7.55 ± 1.38) was significantly higher than that in patients without lymph node metastasis (4.62 ± 1.60),with a significant difference (t =7.572,P =0.001).The analysis of the diagnostic value of serum miR-663 in patients with NPC using the ROC curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of miR-663 was 0.939.When the optimal cut-off value of miR-663 was 3.190,the sensitivity was 80.0％ and the specificity was 89.0％.The median survival time in miR-663 ≥3.190 group (21.7 months) was significantly shorter than that in miR-663 ＜3.190 group (33.4 months),with a significant difference (x2 =4.332,P =0.037).Conclusion The relative expression level of serum miR-663 in patients with NPC is increased,and the expression level of miR-663 is related to lymph node metastasis and clinical stage.High expression of miR-663 predicts poor clinical outcomes,and miR-663 may be a potential predictor of prognosis in patients with NPC.