HIF-1α,GLUT1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and their association with COX-2

Purpose To investigate the expression of HIF-1α and GLUT1 in NSCLC which are considered as acute and chronic hypoxic markers respectively,and their potential roles in the over-expression of COX-2 and correlation with clinicopathological characteristics.Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of HIF-1α,GLUT1 and COX-2 in sequential histologic sections of specimens from 46 cases of primary lung carcinomas.Results HIF-1α,GLUT1 and COX-2 stains were observed in 58.70%(27/46),39.11%(18/46) and 67.39%(31/46) of the cancers respectively.COX-2 expression was closely related to both HIF-1α and GLUT1(P0.01).GLUT1 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis(P0.05) and squamous cell histology(P0.01).Neither COX-2 nor HIF-1α expression was closely related to clinico-pathological characteristics,such as age,sex,pathological stage,tumor size,lymph node metastasis,histology,and grade of differentiation.Conclusions Both acute and chronic hypoxia exist in lung cancer tissues.GLUT1 over-expression other than HIF-1α is related to lymph node metastasis.Furthermore,hypoxia may play a role in the mechanism of COX-2 over-expression.