Clinicopathological significance of expression of HIF-1α and P-gp in pancreatic carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression of HIF-1α and P-gp protein in pancreatic carcinoma and determine their clinicopathological significance and the correlation between the expression of HIF-1α, P-gp and the clinical prognosis. Method In samples from 74 cases of pancreatic carcinoma and 10 healthy individuals, the expression of HIF-1α and P-gp were detected by immunohistochemical method. Results The positive expression rate of HIF-1α and P-gp was 75.7% and 86.5%,respectively, which were remarkably higher than that in normal pancreatic tissue (P＜0.05). There was a positive correlation between the expression of HIF-1α and that of P-gp. The aberrant expression of HIF-1α and P-gp was associated with lymph node metastasis but not the location, size, clinical stages and nerve invasion of the tumor. Patients with high intensity of HIF-1α and P-gp expression showed a significantly lower median survival time than those with low intensity expression.Conclusions The expression of HIF-1α and P-gp is up-regulated in pancreatic carcinoma and there is a positive correlation between them. The expression of HIF-1α and P-gp might be related to the lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. Key words: Pancreatic carcinomas Immunohistochemistry; HIF-1α; P-gp; Prognosis