Expression and significance of HIF-1αand VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma

Objective The present studies aimed at studying the expression and significance of HIF-1α and VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma. Methods SP method was used for the immunohistochemical detection of HIF-1α and VEGF-C proteins in paraffin embedded archival samples from 44 patients with gastric carcinoma and 20 normal gastric tissues. Results In 44 cases, the positive rate of HIF-1αwas 59.09%(26/44)and 23 cases 52. 27%(23/44)showed VEGF-C positive in cytoplasm and they were significantly higher than those in gastric normal tissue. The positive rate of HIF-1α in gastric cancer tissue expression with lymph node metastasis was higher than that without lymph node metastasis(72. 41% 21/29 vs 33.33 % 5/15;x2 = 6.25, P ＜ 0. 05).The positive rate of VEGF-C expression with lymph node metastasis and that without lymph node metastasis was 65. 52%(19/29)and 26. 67%(4/15)respectively(x2 = 4. 53, P ＜ 0. 05). The expression of HIF-1α and VEGF-C was closely correlated with lymph node metastasis and the depth of tumor invasion(x2 = 5. 14,P ＜ 0. 05, and x2 = 4. 38, P ＜ 0. 05), but no relationship with tumor position, sex and age. The positive expression of HIF-1α was consistent with the positive expression of VEGF-C. Conclusion The up regulated expression of HIF-1α and VEGF-C were observed in gastric cancer. The expression of HIF-1α and VEGF-C were correlated with lymph node metastasis and they were of some value for predicting prognosis of gastric carcinoma. Key words: Gastric carcinoma; HIF-1α; VEGF-C; Lymph node metastasis; Immunohistochemistry