Background & objective: Multiple steps and gene expression changes were involved in the development and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but the molecular mechanism is not understanding clearly. This study was designed to investigate the profiling of differently expressed genes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma compared with noncancerous nasopharynx tissues to explore the feature of gene expression in NPC and identify new candidate genes related to the development and progression of NPC.
Methods: Differently expressed genes of NPC in 21 cases, which were divided into three pools, were investigated by using high density cDNA microarray representing 18,000 cDNA clones. The alterations in gene expression levels were confirmed by reverse-transcription PCR in 2 randomly selected genes.
Results: A total of 317 genes were identified to be differently expressed in NPC of three pools as compared with noncancerous controls. Among the 317 genes, 23 genes were found to be consistent in at least two NPC sample pools, including 16 up-regulated genes and 7 down-regulated genes. Six genes were found to be consistent in all the three NPC sample pools. The 6 genes include 2 up-regulated unknown genes, 3 up-regulated unknown genes and 1 down-regulated unknown gene.
Conclusion: The present study represents a global view of gene expression of NPC and provides important clues for further study of NPC related genes.