These results suggest that chitinase induces MUC5B expression by activation of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway in human airway epithelial cells.

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Background: Nasopharyngeal cancer is a rare disease with a relatively poor prognosis because it tends to be diagnosed at an advanced stage. The aim of this study was to establish the clinical characteristics of nasopharyngeal cancer. Materials and Methods:The medical records of 54 patients with nasopharyngeal cancer from January 1993 to December 2002 were reviewed retrospectively. Forty one cases were male (75.9%) and thirteen were female (24.1%). The average age was of 46.9 (range 16 to 78 years) years. The majority of patients (79.6%) were diagnosed in the advanced stage. The most common complaints were a neck mass (55.5%) and the WHO type III (53.7%) was the most frequent histological type. Results:The cumulative survival rate for a 5-year period was 46.5% and the T stage, N stage, pathologic type, and clinical stage were not significantly related to the survival rate.Sixteen of 54 (31.5%) cases presented with a distant metastasis of the bone, lung, brain, spine, and liver, and six cases (11.1%) presented with a locoregional recurrence.Conclusion: TNM staging is not appropriate for predicting survival rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Therefore, a newer staging system, which includes new factors, is needed to predict the prognosis.