Expression and significance of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and P-glycoprotein in breast cancer

Objective To evaluate the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α)and P-glycoprotein(Pgp)in breast cancer and investigate the relationships between their expressions and the clinicopathological characteristics,and also analyze the association among their expressions.Methods The expression of HIF-1αand P-gp in 59breast cancer samples and 15normal breast tissues were detected using immunohistochemical SP methods.Results The positive expression of HIF-1αand P-gp in 59cases were 61.0%(36/59)and 40.7%(24/59)respectively,and there were significant differences between breast cancer tissues and normal tissues(P 0.05).Both HIF-1αand P-gp expression had significantly positive correlation with lymph node metastasis(P0.05).The expression of HIF-1αwas positively related to tumor size and histological grade,while P-gp expression was not.Neither of them was correlated with the patients' age,histological type and menstruation status(P0.05).Significant correlation existed between the expression of HIF-1αand P-gp in breast cancer(r=0.38,P0.05).Conclusion The over expression of HIF-1αand P-gp showed that the invasion of breast cancer is even higher.Combined detection of the two indicators can be used to accurately assess the prognosis in breast cancer and evaluate the clinical effects of chemotherapy.