The independent, unfavorable prognostic factors endothelin A receptor and chemokine receptor 4 have a close relationship in promoting the motility of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells via the activation of AKT and MAPK pathways

Table 5 Summary of the multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (Including ETAR and CXCR4)

Clinical endpoint	Prognosticator	HR	95% CI	P value
OS	CXCR4 Expression	2.78	1.78-4.35	<0.001
	UICC Stage	1.51	1.15-1.98	0.003
	N classification	1.47	1.16-1.88	0.001
	Gender	0.48	0.29-0.80	0.004
	Age	1.65	1.07-2.56	0.024
PFS	CXCR4 Expression	2.30	1.42-3.72	<0.001
PFS	ETAR Expression	2.12	1.03-4.36	0.04
	N classification	1.66	1.31-2.08	<0.001
	Gender	0.38	0.21-0.72	0.003
DMFS	CXCR4 expression	2.52	1.42-4.46	0.001
DMFS	ETAR expression	3.46	1.22-9.84	0.02
	N classification	1.96	1.48-2.59	<0.001
LRRFS	UICC stage	1.76	1.22-2.54	0.002

CI confidence interval, DMFS distant metastasis-free survival, HR hazard ratio, LRRFS locoregional relapse-free survival, OS overall survival, PFS progression-free survival.