Decreased expression of ECRG4 in serum predicts poor prognosis for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Purpose: The present study tended to explore the expression of esophageal carcinoma related gene 4 (ECRG4) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Besides, the correlation between ECRG4 expression and prognosis of NPC patients was also evaluated. Methods: The relative expression level of ECRG4 mRNA in serum was detected by Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Chi-square test was performed to analyze the relationship between ECRG4 expression and clinical characteristics of NPC patients. Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the association of ECRG4 expression and overall survival of NPC patients. Cox regression analysis was conducted to study the role of ECRG4 in the prognosis of NPC patients. Results: ECRG4 was weakly expressed in serum of NPC patients compared to the controls (P < 0.001). There was significant relationship between ECRG4 expression and such clinical characteristics as high TNM stage, metastasis and N classification (P < 0.05). Survival curves illustrated that the survival rate of patients with low ECRG4 was significantly lower than those with high ECRG4 expression (P = 0.003). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that ECRG4 could act as a prognostic factor for NPC patients (P = 0.036, HR = 2.930, 95% CI = 1.072-8.009). Conclusion: ECRG4 expression was tightly related with the prognosis of NPC patients.