Table 1. Characteristics of NPC patients and control subjects.

Characteristics	Patient number		Control serum number
	Tumor tissues	Serum samples
Gender
Male	56	142	187
Female	30	63	24
Age (years)
mean±SD	47.2±12.4	48.7±13.6	49.2±14.5
Histological typea
UC	49	123
NKC	35	77
SCC	2	5
Overall pathological stage
Stage I	5	13
Stage II	23	46
Stage III	31	74
Stage IV	27	72
Total	86	205		231

^aUC, undifferentiated carcinoma; NKC, non-keratinizing carcinoma; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma.