Abstract:Objective To study the effect of MRI enhancement scanning parameters and serum macrophage inflammatory protein-3 alpha (MIP-3α) expressed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) on the diagnosis, pathological characteristics and therapeutic evaluation of NPC. Methods Quantitative Enzyme Lined Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was used to detect the expression of serum MIP-3α of 120 patients without distant metastasis of NPC and their MRI enhancement scanning parameters were also recorded. Results Totally 120 patients with NPC had total relief or partial relief after treatment. The dynamic parameters of MRI and serum MIP-3α had positive correlation with each other. Serum MIP-3α levels were significantly higher in patients with NPC than those in healthy controls. There were significant differences in the maximum slope of curve rise among patients with different T stage, N stage and clinical stage (P < 0.05). MIP-3α was associated with clinical stage and T stage of NPC. Serum MIP-3α level of patients with total relief after treatment was reduced to a healthy control level, while that of the ones with partial relief after treatment was higher than normal. The dynamic parameters of MRI in patients with NPC showed positive correlation with serum MIP-3α. Conclusion There is a clinical significance of serum MIP-3α level for the diagnosis of NPC. Serum MIP-3α combined with MRI enhanced scanning parameters can help to judge the stage of NPC and the short-term curative effect after treatment.