Association of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha gene polymorphisms and colorectal cancer prognosis.

BACKGROUND

Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is the key regulator of cellular responses to hypoxia and plays a central role in tumour growth. Recently, two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HIF-1 alpha gene, C1772T and G1790A, were shown to cause significantly higher transcriptional activity than did the wild-type. This study aimed to investigate the effect of these SNPs on the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

DNA from 336 CRC patients was genotyped. Genotypes of each polymorphism were tested for association with disease-free survival (DFS) using univariate and multivariate Cox-regression analysis.

RESULTS

Genotype frequencies were: CC 75.6%, CT 18.8% and TT 1.8% for HIF1A1 C1772T and GG 93.2%, GA 2.7% and AA 0% for G1790A. A statistically significant association between DFS and clinicopathological features was observed. However, no association was found between HIF1A1 C1772T (p=0.44; risk ratio of recurrence, RR=1.19, 95% confidence interval, CI=0.77 to 1.83) and G1790A (p=0.89; RR=0.92, 95% CI=0.29 to 2.90) polymorphisms and DFS in univariate and multivariate Cox-regression analysis.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that HIF1A1 C1772T and G1790A polymorphisms are not involved in the progression or metastasis of CRC.