Relationship of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression and microvessel density with biological behavior of colorectal carcinoma

AIM: To explore the influence of hypoxia inducible factor 1α(HIF 1α) expression on angiogenesis and the relationship of HIF 1α expression and microvessel density(MVD)with biological behavior of colorectal carcinoma. METHODS: Sixty one samples of colorectal carcinoma tissues were examined for HIF 1α expression by SABC immunohistochemical method and the CD34 endothelial antigen was used by SP immunohistochemical method to label the new growth microvessel. The microvessel density(MVD)of tumor was calculated. RESULTS: The positive expression rate of HIF 1α was 65.6%, among which the weak, moderate and strong positive expression rate were 28%, 20% and 18% respectively. The mean±SD of MVD was (28.7± 12.9) (ranging from 6 to 55). The expression of HIF 1α and MVD was significantly correlated with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, liver metastasis and Dukes stage ( P 0.01). MVD was positively correlated with HIF 1α expression ( r s=0.795, P 0.01). CONCLUSION: Neoangiogenesis of colorectal carcinoma is significantly correlated with HIF 1α expression. The overexpression of HIF 1α and higher MVD are related with the poor biological behavior of colorectal carcinoma. They can be taken as useful markers for predicting the invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma.