Abstract: 【Objective】 To investigate the status of DNA methylation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) for screening out the cervical lymph node metastasis-related epigenetically masked genes. 【Methods】 Four pairs of specimens of stage I NPC and NPC with cervical lymph node metastasis were collected to extracted DNA; The enriched genomic methylation fragments of two group specimens were used for high-throughput sequencing analysis by NimbleGen Human DNA Methylation 3 × 720 K CpG Island Plus RefSeq Promoter Array. We scanned the hybridization signal

processed preliminary data and identified the differentiated hypermethylated genes between the two groups NPC specimens. 【Results】 33 methylated genes displayed significance of difference between the data of two groups by comparative analysise. It imply that they might be the lymph node metastasis-associated DNA methylation profiles in NPC patients. 【Conclusion】 33 novel cervical lymph node metastasis-related epigenetically masked genes of NPC were preliminary verified and high density DNA methylation microarrays is indentified as an effective method for screening aberrantly methylated genes.