Expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α and its relation to apoptosis and proliferation in renal cell carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the relationship of the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α),Bcl-2 and proliferation nuclear antigen (PCNA), in renal cell carcinoma(RCC) and to evaluate their clinical significance. Methods: The expression of HIF-1α,Bcl-2 and PCNA were tested by immunohistochemical methods in 61 cases of RCC tissues, and their clinical significance were analyzed. Results:The positive rate of HIF-1α expression in the RCC tissues was 57.4%. The expression of HIF-1α in RCC tissues which was not related to the histological type of RCC (P0.05) but related to and increased with the clinical stages and pathological grades of RCC (P0.05). The positive rate of Bcl-2 expression in the RCC tissues was 42.6%(26/61). The expression of Bcl-2 in RCC tissues was not related to the histological type, the clinical stages and pathological grades of RCC (P0.05).The expression of HIF-1α was positively related with the expression of PCNA(r=0.489,P=0.000) ,but had no relationship with the expression of Bcl-2 (r=-0.196, P=0.127). Conclusion: Overexpression of HIF-1α is significantly associated with the proliferation in the RCC tissues, but has no relation with the cell apoptosis of RCC. HIF-1α may serve as important indicator to evaluate the biological of RCC such as metastasis and prognosis.