In this study, we demonstrated that AP-2α and COX-2 were highly expressed in both human NPC cancer tissues and the NPC cell lines, and found that high expression of AP-2α and COX-2 in NPC patients was correlated with clinicopathologic features, such as clinical classification, T stage, N stage, metastasis and recurrence. This evidence concerns the gene PTGS2 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.