Aim: to detect the expression of Hedgehog pathway components PTCH-1 and SMO mRNA in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and discuss its biological significance.
Methods: expression of PTCH-1 and SMO mRNA was evaluated by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR in 32 cases of NPC and 32 cases of nasopharyngitis. According to Livak (2(-delta;Ct);) relative quantitative analysis method, with nasopharyngitis as control, to calculate the expression level of PTCH-1 and SMO in NPC.
Results: all detected NPC and nasopharyngitis tissues had the expression of PTCH-1 and SMO. Compared with nasopharyngitis, the negative expression rate of PTCH-1 in NPC was 75% (24/32), and the positive expression rate of SMO in NPC was 68.8% (22/32), the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition, the positive expression rate of PTCH-1 in NPC was 18.7% (6/32), and the negative expression rate of SMO in NPC was 15.6% (5/32), the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05).
Conclusion: the expression level of SMO in NPC is generally high, but the expression level of PTCH-1 was relatively low. The down-regulate of PTCH-1 and up-regulate of SMO may cause the abnormal activation of hedgehog signaling pathway in NPC, speculated that the genesis and development of NPC may be associated with the abnormal activation of hedgehog signaling pathway.