Abstract
Using the immunohistochemical S-P method, we examined the expression of nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDPK), the product of the metastasis suppressor gene nm23, and its correlation with the degree of malignancy, and cervical lymph node metastasis in supraglottis laryngeal carcinoma of 80 patients. As a result 58.8% of the patients with primary laryngeal cancer showed a positive NDPK expression. In the patients without cervical lymph node metastasis, the positive staining rate (69.8%) was significantly higher (p <0.05) than that in those with cervical lymph node metastasis (45.8%). Our findings thus seemed to indicate that the nm23 gene plays a role in the inverse control of cervical lymph node metastasis in supraglottis laryngeal cancer.
