Expression of GLUT-1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its clinical significance.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the expression of glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1) and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-three patients with NPC (the NPC group) and 24 patients with chronic nasopharyngitis (the control group) who were treated between December 2014 and February 2016 were selected for this study. Pathological nasopharyngeal tissues were collected from patients. The expression of GLUT-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of GLUT-1 was correlated with clinicopathological features and survival time.

RESULTS: The positive GLUT-1 expression rate in the NPC group was 58.73% (37/63), which was significantly higher than in the control group (29.17%, 7/24) (p<0.01). The positive GLUT-1 expression rate was significantly correlated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and Epstein-Barr (EB) virus infection (p<0.05). The 3-year survival rate of GLUT-1-positive NPC patients was 75.00% and was significantly lower than that of GLUT-1-negative NPC patients (88.89%) (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: GLUT-1 was highly expressed in the nasopharyngeal tissues of patients with NPC, and its expression was associated with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and EB virus infection.