Expression of HIF-1α and survivin in gastric cancer tissues and its relation to angiogenesis

AIM: To investigate the roles of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha(HIF-1α) and survivin in development of gastric cancer and their effects on tumor angiogenesis.METHODS: The expression levels of HIF-1α and survivin proteins in pathological specimens from 70 cases of gastric cancer,14 cases of pericancerous tissue and 15 cases of normal tissue were examined by tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemistry.The CD105 labeled micro vessel density(MVD) was counted in each group.RESULTS: The expression levels of HIF-1α and survivin were significantly higher in gastric cancer tissue than in pericancerous tissue and non-tumor tissue(P0.05).The over expressions of HIF-1α and survivin were strongly related to the invasiveness,clinical stages and metastasis of gastric cancer(P0.05). The MVD in HIF-1α or survivin positive group was higher than that in HIF-1α or survivin negative group.The expression of HIF-1α was positively correlated with the expression of survivin(r=0.285,P0.01).CONCLUSION: HIF-1α and survivin proteins play critical roles in carcinoma metastasis and biological behavior of gastric cancer.Co-detection of HIF-α and survivin expression can be used to evaluate some biological behaviors of gastric cancer.