Study on the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF in endometrial adenocarcinoma and their relationship

Objective:To investigate the expression and significance of HIF-1αand vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in endometrial carcinoma, and analyze the correlation between them.Methods:Used immunohistochemical steeptavidin/peroxidase (sp) to examine the expressions of HIF-1αand VEGF in 11 cases of normal endometrium,14 cases of atypical endometrial hyperplasia and 38 cases of endometrial carcinoma.Results:The positive expression rate of HIF-1α and VEGF in endometrial carcinoma and atypical endometrial hyperplasia was higher than that in normal endometrium, which indicated statistical meaning (P0.05), there was no association between HIF-1α expression and histological grade or surgical-pathologic staging, but there was increase of VEGF positive rate with the increase of histological grade and surgical-pathologic staging, which indicated statistical meaning(P0.05); Positive correlation was also found between the expressions of HIF-1αand VEGF(r=0.429,P=0.007).Conclusion:The HIF-1α gene may be activated by hypoxia, and the over-expression of HIF-1α protein may induce tumor angiogenesis by activating the transcription of VEGF gene, suffering hypoxia, promoting metastasis of endometrial carcinoma.