Expression and significance of hypoxia inducible factor-1α in cervical cancer

Objective To study the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α)protein in cervical cancer and its biological signicificance.Methods The expression of HIF-1α was assayed by means of immunohistochemical technique in 109 cervical cancer,16 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN) and 10 normal cervical tissue specimens.Results The expression rates of HIF-1αprotein were 0%,12.5%,43.5%,81.4% respectively in normal cervical tissue,CIN,cervical carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma of cervix uteri.The positive rate of HIF-1α in cervical carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma of cervix uteri was significantly higher than that in nomal cervical tissue and CIN(P0.01).There was positive correlated between HIF-1α negative expression and histological differentiation(r=-0.769 P0.01).The marked difference existed between grade Ⅱand grade Ⅳ(P0.01).But statistical analysis revealed that the expression of HIF-1α was not relation to tumor histological subtypes(P0.05).Conclusion Overexpression of HIF-1α is the preliminary incident of the formation of cervical cancer,which may induce carcinoma into malignant phenotype.Thus it may be the early diagnostic parameter and be used as a biological mark of cervical cancer.