Abstract
Serum beta-2-microglobulin (beta 2M) levels of 274 Chinese patients with different stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma at presentation and that of 35 patients who developed distant metastases post-treatment were assayed. beta 2M level was found to increase with advancing stage of disease, with statistically significant differences among early-stage, advanced-stage, and metastatic disease. Elevated pre-treatment beta 2M levels were expressed more frequently by tumours with lower degree of histological differentiation. The sensitivity of serum beta 2M for diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, however, is low.
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Shiu, W., Leung, S., Leung, W. et al. Expression of beta-2-microglobulin by nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Br J Cancer 66, 555–557 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1992.313
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1992.313