Chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA binding protein 1-like protein expression predicts poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy with a high metastatic ability. Recent studies have implicated the role of chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA binding protein 1-like (CHD1L) gene as a novel oncogene; however, the functional role of CHD1L in NPC remains unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of CHD1L positivity in NPC. CHD1L protein expression was examined by performing western blot analysis of 30 fresh NPC tissues and conducting immunohistochemistry tests of 133 NPC samples between December 1, 2005 and December 1, 2009. The correlations of CHD1L expression status with clinicopathological features and prognosis were investigated. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that 88 of 133 (66.2%) paraffin-embedded NPC biopsies exhibited positive expression of CHD1L, but all non-cancerous nasopharyngeal specimens were negative for CHD1L expression. In addition, positive CHD1L expression was strongly associated with an advanced clinical stage (P=0.016), recurrence (P=0.002) and the metastasis status (P=0.031) of NPC. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that patients with CHD1L-positive NPC had significantly shorter overall survival (P<0.001). Furthermore, the multivariate analysis indicated that CHD1L protein expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, 7.916; 95% confidence interval, 2.067–16.034; P=0.003) in patients with NPC. These results indicate that CHD1L is a prognostic marker for NPC.