Expression and Potential Clinical Implications of HIF-1α and PTEN in Human Bladder Transitional Cell Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological significance of HIF-1α and PTEN expression in bladder transitional cell carcinoma(BTCC).Methods Hypoxia inducible factor 1α(HIF-1α) and phosphatase and tensin homology deleted on chromosome ten(PTEN)protein expression were determined using immunohistochemistry.The relationship between HIF-1α、PTEN expression and various clinicopathological parameters including pathological grade and clinical stage was analyzed and the correlation between HIF-1αexpression and PTEN expression was also analyzed.Results Over-expression of HIF-1α was frequently(30 of 57 cases,52.63%) detected in BTCC tissues.HIF-1α expression was significantly associated with invasive bladder cancer.The positive expression rate of PTEN in BTCC was 63.16%.Significant differences existed in the expression of PTEN in carcinomas form different pothological grades and clinical stages(P0.05).There was significant negative correlation between the expression of HIF-1α protein and the PTEN protein expression(γ=-0.360,P=0.006).Conclusion HIF-1α and PTEN may play a critical role in the invasion of bladder carcinoma and may be used to estimate the progression of bladder carcinoma.