The correlation study between hypoxia inducible factor expression level and clinical pathological characteristics of ovarian carcinoma in the elderly

Objectives To investigate the correlation between HIF-1α expression level and clinical pathological characteristics of ovarian carcinoma in the elderly. Methods The expression levels of HIF-1α in normal ovary tissue, benign ovarian tumor tissue, borderline ovarian tumor tissue and ovarian cancer tissue were detected in the elderly by immunohistochemical method.And the correlations between HIF-1α expression level and clinical pathological characteristics of ovarian carcinoma were analyzed in the elderly. Results The HIF-1α expression was almost nothing in normal ovarian and benign ovarian tumor tissues, low in the borderline ovarian tissues, and high in the ovarian cancer tissue(Z=11.324, P=0.002). The IOD value of tissues was higher in borderline ovarian tumor tissue〔(2.58±0.65)×105〕and ovarian cancer tissue〔(5.95±1.02)×105〕than in normal ovary tissue〔(1.90±0.35)×105〕and benign ovarian tumor tissue〔1.95±0.41)×105〕(F=15.711, P=0.001). The expression of HIF-1α in the tissues was lower in ovarian cancer with stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, high or moderate differentiation and non-metastatic lymph node than in ovarian cancer with stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, low differentiation and metastatic lymph node(χ2=4.714, 6.121, 6.364; P=0.030, 0.013, 0.012). Conclusions The expression of HIF-1α is up-regulated in ovarian cancer in the elderly compared with normal ovarian tissues, which may be related to occurrence, development and clinical prognosis of ovarian cancer. Key words: Ovarian neoplasms; Hypoxia-inducible factor 1, alpha subunit