Expression and clinical significance of HIF-1α in breast cancer

Abstract

Objective To detect the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α)in breast cancer and to investigate the feasibility of HIF-1α as a new therapy target for breast cancer. Methods 56 cancer tissue specimens of women with primary breast cancer admitted from Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2013 in the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University Breast Center were selected. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of HIF-1α protein in cancer tissues. The relation between HIF-1α protein expression and the clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. Results The positive expression rate of HIF-1α protein in breast cancer was 73.2%(41/56)and its high expression rate was 41.1%(23/56), which were significantly higher than those in benign breast tumor group(P=0.000). HIF-1α protein expression was positively correlated with breast tumor size, stage, histological grade, lymph node metastasis and the expression of HER2, and it was negtively correlated with ER. Conclusions High expression of HIF-1α in breast cancer was significantly associated with poor prognosis. HIF-1α protein is also a risk factor for breast cancer as well as HER2, and they may have a synergistic role in the progression of breast cancer. Key words: HIF-1α; Breast cancer