Proteomic comparison of nasopharyngeal cancer cell lines C666-1 and NP69 identifies down-regulation of annexin II and β₂-tubulin for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Context. - Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), common in southern China and North Africa, has a complex etiology involving interplay between viral, environmental, and hereditary factors and is almost constantly associated with the Epstein-Barr virus. Since the prognosis of locally advanced and metastatic diseases is poor, increased understanding of the pathogenesis of NPC would be important for discovering novel markers for patients' management. Objectives. - To compare the proteomic expression profile between an Epstein-Barr virus-associated NPC cell line (C666-1) and a normal NP cell line (NP69). The proteins with differential expression were analyzed in 40 undifferentiated NPC paraffin-embedded specimens. Design. - Differentially expressed proteins discovered between the two cell lines were identified by mass spectrometry. After confirmation by immunocytochemical staining, their expression in patient samples was measured using 40 pairs of undifferentiated NPCs together with their adjacent normal epithelia. Results. - Proteomic findings indicated that adenosine triphosphate synthase α chain was up-regulated, whereas annexin II, annexin V, β2-tubulin, and profilin 1 were down-regulated. After confirming the results in agar-processed cell lines, annexin II and β2-tubulin expression were found to be lower in tumor cells than in adjacent normal epithelial cells in 100% and 90% of the patients' specimens, respectively. Finally, annexin II down-regulation was positively associated with lymph node metastasis, suggesting that it may be a prognostic factor in NPC. Conclusions. - The results suggest that annexin II and β2- tubulin down-regulation is important in NPC formation and may represent potential targets for further investigations.