Expression changes of NRG1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and its association with prognosis

QIN Heng; HUI Mingxu; LU Donglan; BAI Xue; LIAO Xueyang; YUE Jiakui; LIU Lusha; QUAN Yuxiu; WANG Wenxiu; TANG Shiyan; FAN Hui

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2025.02.007

Abstract：Objective To observe the expression changes of neuregulin 1(NRG1)in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)tissues and to analyze its association with the patients'prognosis.Methods RT-PCR was used to detect NRG1 mRNA levels in 20 fresh NPC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues.Immunohistochemistry(IHC)was performed to assess NRG1 protein expression in 83 NPC tissues and adjacent tissues.The association between NRG1 protein expression and clinicopathological parameters of NPC was analyzed.Kaplan-Meier curves were used to compare survival outcomes be-tween patients with high and low NRG1 protein expression.Cox regression analysis was conducted to identify prognostic factors for NPC.Results NRG1 mRNA expression and the high-expression rate of NRG1 protein were significantly high-er in NPC tissues than in adjacent tissues(both P<0.05).High NRG1 protein expression was related to tumor differentia-tion,T-stage,lymph node metastasis,and clinical stage(all P<0.05).Patients with high NRG1 protein expression had shorter overall survival(OS)than those with low expression(P<0.01).Univariate analysis revealed that NRG1 expression(HR=3.23,95%CI 1.62-6.41),tumor differentiation(HR=2.65,95%CI 1.42-4.95),T-stage(HR=2.14,95%CI 1.09-4.21),and clinical stage(HR=1.93,95%CI 1.02-3.66)were significant influencing factors for OS.Multivariate analysis identified NRG1 expression(HR=2.25,95%CI 1.01-4.99)and tumor differentiation(HR=2.01,95%CI 1.04-3.89)were the independent prognostic factors for OS.Conclusion The expression of NRG1 mRNA and protein in NPC tissues increases,and NRG1 protein may be involved in the development and progression of NPC and is related to the prognosis of NPC patients.