In contrast to the high frequency of methylation of TFPI-2 in NPC cell lines and primary tumors, the absence of promoter hypermethylation in 12 histological NNE tissues showed that hypermethylation of TFPI-2 promoter is not necessary to maintain the normal phenotype in the nasopharyngeal epithelium. Here, TFPI2 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.