Zheng Yang, Ni Yanhong, Huang Xiaofeng, Wang Zhiyong, Han Wei
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Hospital Affiliated Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, P.R. China ; Central Laboratory of Stomatology, Stomatological Hospital Affiliated Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2013 Apr;5(4):1285-1289. doi: 10.3892/ol.2013.1185. Epub 2013 Feb 7.
Expression of the transcription factor hypoxiainducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays a key role in cellular adaptation to hypoxia, particularly in relation to tumour angiogenesis. Expression of the HIF-1α subunit is responsive to changes in oxygen levels. Overexpression of HIF-1α has been reported to be associated with a poor prognosis in a variety of malignant tumours. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the expression of HIF-1α in tongue carcinoma was associated with established clinicopathological features. Tumour specimens from 120 patients with histologically-proven, surgically-treated tongue carcinoma were examined by immunohistochemical staining for expression of HIF-1α. The mRNA levels of HIF-1α were measured in 45 fresh, paired samples of tongue carcinoma and corresponding adjacent normal tissues using quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). HIF-1α was found to be frequently overexpressed in tumours in a hypoxia-independent manner. The expression of HIF-1α correlated with the five-year survival rate (P<0.01) and disease-free period (P<0.01). Increased expression of HIF-1α correlated significantly with clinical stage (P=0.002) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.034). Compared with paired normal tissues, HIF-1α mRNA levels were significantly increased in carcinoma of the tongue. A positive correlation was observed between HIF-1α mRNA levels and pathological differentiation grade. A significant difference in the levels of HIF-1α expression was detected between groups of patients with lymph node metastases and patients with no metastases. These results indicate that overexpression of HIF-1α may be an indicator of poor prognosis in carcinoma of the tongue. The expression of HIF-1α may be associated with lymph node metastasis.
转录因子缺氧诱导因子1（HIF-1）的表达在细胞对缺氧的适应中起关键作用，尤其是在肿瘤血管生成方面。HIF-1α亚基的表达对氧水平的变化有反应。据报道，HIF-1α的过表达与多种恶性肿瘤的不良预后相关。本研究的目的是调查HIF-1α在舌癌中的表达是否与既定的临床病理特征相关。对120例经组织学证实、手术治疗的舌癌患者的肿瘤标本进行免疫组织化学染色，检测HIF-1α的表达。使用定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）在45对新鲜的舌癌及相应癌旁正常组织样本中测量HIF-1α的mRNA水平。发现HIF-1α在肿瘤中经常以不依赖缺氧的方式过表达。HIF-1α的表达与五年生存率（P<0.01）和无病生存期（P<0.01）相关。HIF-1α表达增加与临床分期（P=0.002）和淋巴结转移（P=0.034）显著相关。与配对的正常组织相比，舌癌中HIF-1α的mRNA水平显著升高。HIF-1α的mRNA水平与病理分化程度呈正相关。在有淋巴结转移的患者组和无转移的患者组之间检测到HIF-1α表达水平存在显著差异。这些结果表明，HIF-1α的过表达可能是舌癌预后不良的一个指标。HIF-1α的表达可能与淋巴结转移有关。
