MT2A and nasopharyngeal carcinoma: In another in vitro study [121] in well-differentiated HK1 nasopharyngeal cancer cells a differential up-regulation of metallothionein in isoforms was observed: MT-1E and MT-2A isoform were up-regulated of six hours following PDT, with an approximately 50-fold rise in the expression level of MT-1E and a 15-fold increase of MT-2A.