Increased serum levels of macrophage inflammatory protein-3alpha and cystatin a predict a poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

This study was aimed to investigate the roles of serum macrophage inflammatory protein-3alpha (MIP-3alpha) and cystatin A in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) prognosis.The serum levels of MIP-3alpha and cystatin A in 140 primary NPC patients without distant metastasis were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after treatment. The results were compared with those in 100 healthy controls. The log-rank test was used to compare survival curves of the 2 groups. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors used Cox proportional hazards regression model.Serum levels of MIP-3alpha and cystatin A in pretreatment patients with NPC were higher than those in healthy controls. Concentrations of these 2 factors in the majority of patients after the therapy decreased to control level. Patients with high serum level of MIP-3alpha and cystatin A before treatment had poorer overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival than the ones with low level. In addition, serum pretreatment MIP-3alpha and cystatin A levels were independent prognostic factors for OS and distant metastasis-free survival of NPC patients; serum posttreatment MIP-3alpha and cystatin A levels were independent prognostic factors of local recurrence-free survival.Our results revealed that serum MIP-3alpha and cystatin A may be promising candidate prognostic factors for NPC, and higher serum levels of MIP-3alpha and cystatin A correlate with shorter probability of OS, local recurrence, and distant metastasis.