The EGLN1,SLC27A6 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue and correlation with stemness genes and prog-nostic significance

He Wenjie; Zhou Xin; Chang Aoshuang; Sun Zhen; Wang Long

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1671-6450.2026.03.016

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of prolyl hydroxylase 2(EGLN1)and solute carrier family 27 member 6(SLC27A6)in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)tissues,their correlation with stemness genes,and their prognostic significance.Methods A total of 132 NPC patients diagnosed and treated in the Department of Otolaryngology at Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from March 2018 to March 2020 were selected as the research subjects.Quantitative real-time PCR(qPCR)was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of EGLN1,SLC27A6,and stemness-related genes[oc-tamer-binding transcription factor 4(OCT4),sex-determining region Y box protein 2(SOX2),and NANOG]in NPC tissues,and Pearson correlation analysis was performed to assess their relationships.Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the pro-tein expression of EGLN1 and SLC27A6 in NPC tissues.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression were used to identify risk factors affecting the prognosis of NPC patients.Results The mRNA expression levels of EGLN1,SLC27A6,OCT4,SOX2,and NANOG in NPC tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissues(t/P=46.841/＜0.001,44.102/＜0.001,46.396/＜0.001,52.522/＜0.001,45.576/＜0.001).The mRNA expression of EGLN1 and SLC27A6 in NPC tissues was positively correlated with OCT4,SOX2,and NANOG(r=0.708,0.692,0.669;0.641,0.721,0.784,all P＜0.001).The positive rates of EGLN1 and SLC27A6 protein expression in NPC tissues were 62.12％(82/132)and 60.61％(80/132),respectively,which were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues[9.09％(12/132)and 6.06％(8/132)](x2=80.951,88.364,both P＜0.001).The positive rates of EGLN1 and SLC27A6 in cancer tissues were significantly higher in NPC patients with TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ than in those with stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ,and also higher in patients with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis(x2/P=31.034/＜0.001,14.314/＜0.001,5.811/0.016,10.725/0.001).The 5-year survival rates of patients in the EGLN1-positive and EGLN1-negative groups were 56.10％(46/82)and 88.00％(44/50),respectively,with a statistically significant difference(Log-rank x2=14.530,P=0.004).The 5-year survival rates of patients in the SLC27A6-positive and SLC27A6-negative groups were 55.00％(44/80)and 88.46％(46/52),respectively,with a statistically significant difference(Log-rank x2=15.860,P＜0.001).TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ,lymph node metastasis,EGLN1 positivity,and SLC27A6 positivity were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of NPC patients[OR(95％CI)=1.602(1.166-2.200),1.540(1.242-1.911),1.379(1.124-1.690),1.302(1.075-1.578)].Conclusion The expression of EGLN1 and SLC27A6 is upregulated in NPC and positively correlated with the expression of stemness-related genes,suggesting their po-tential as novel tumor markers for prognostic evaluation of NPC.