Expressions of HIF-1α and CTGF proteins in oral submucous fibrosis

Objective To evaluate the effects of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) proteins in the pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). Methods Expressions of HIF-1α and CTGF proteins in 30 cases of OSF, and 5 cases of normale control oral mucosa tissue were studied with streptomyces peroxidase (SP) immunohistochemistry with the HIF-1α and CTGF rabbit anti-human polyclonal antibodies. Results The negative expressions of HIF-1α and CTGF proteins were found in normal control and significant increase was found in OSF (P<0.05). Conclusions HIF-1α and CTGF proteins have positive expression in OSF, both of them may act as an important role in pathogenesis of OSF. Key words: Oral submucous fibrosis/ME; Hypoxia-inducible factor 1/BI; Immediate-early proteins/BI; Intercellular signaling peptides and proteins/BI