Preliminary Analysis of Stim-1 Expression on Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Nasopharyngeal Cancer Tissues

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is commonly diagnosed at the advanced stage with a poor prognosis. STIM-1 has become a promising cancer biomarker, especially in early diagnostic applications. There is a limited study on STIM1 expression in NPC, especially in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded NPC tissues. Thus, the present work provides a preliminary analysis of STIM-1 expression on NPC tissues. This study aims to examine STIM-1 expression in NPC associated with tissue origin and the functional effects of STIM1 expression in NPC. Screening for target genes was using the KEGG PATHWAY database. The target gene analysis was initially done further studied using an immunohistostaining approach on NPC tissue samples. From the bioinformatic resources, STIM-1 has shown significant interaction with molecules network associated with cell migration and metastasis. Differentiated NPC showed moderate STIM-1 IHC staining intensity and undifferentiated NPC presented with strong STIM-1 IHC staining intensity. The present preliminary study suggests that STIM-1 could have a positive correlation with NPC pathogenesis. However, further comprehensive work using larger samples size is needed especially focusing on the STIM-1 expression and other clinicopathological parameters.