Clinicopathological features of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in patients with lung cancer ⁎

Abstract

Abstract Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of hypoxiainducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in patients with lung cancer. Methods Cancerous and noncancerous tissues were collected post-operation from 115 patients with lung cancers by the self-control method. Total RNA was extracted from the lung tissues. The status of tissue HIF-1α expression and intercellular distribution was observed by immunochemistry using a tissue microarray. The expression levels of circulating HIF-1α and VEGF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results The expression of serum HIF-1α [(138.3 ± 28.8) μg/L] in the group of patients with lung cancer was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than that in the group of patients with pneumonia [(58.8 ± 14.5) μg/L] and the control group of patients [(24.1 ± 3.3) μg/L]. There was a strong positive correlation of serum HIF-1α levels (r = 0.937, P < 0.01) with serum VEGF levels. The specific concentration of total RNA [(1.52 ± 1.14) μg/mg wet lung tissues] in the cancerous tissues was significantly higher (t = 8.494, P < 0.001) than that in the noncancerous tissues [(0.58 ± 0.33) μg/mg]. The clinicopathological features of HIF-1α expression in lung cancer tissues revealed a significant relationship between positive HIF-1α expression and patient sex (χ2 = 4.494, P = 0.034), tumor size (χ2 = 4.679, P = 0.031), differentiation degree (χ2 = 8.846, P = 0.012), and presence of lymphatic node metastasis (χ2 = 6.604, P = 0.037). Conclusion Abnormal HIF-1α expression in lung cancer is closely related with nucleic acid metabolism and angiogenesis, and it may be helpful in the diagnosis and identification of lung cancer.