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

Abstract

Objective To explore the expression and clinical significance of Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac-1) protein and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) in breast cancer and their relationship with tumor stage, node metastasis status and hormone receptor status. Methods Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of Rac-1 and HIF-1α protein in 139 specimens of breast cancer,combined with their clinical pathological characteristics and hormone receptor status for statistical analysis.Results The expression of Rac-1 and HIF-1α in breast cancer tissue were 64.75 ％ and 65.47 ％,respectively.The levels were related with the stage of TNM and histological grade (P ＜ 0.05,P ＜ 0.01).There was no significant correlation between these two proteins' expression and the age of patient, primary pathological location, histologic type and menstruation status of breast cancer patients (P ＞ 0.05). The expression of Rac-1 and HIF-1α had no statistical significance between triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)and non-triple negative breast cancer (NTNBC) patients (x2 =1.1229,x2 =0.1786,P ＞ 0.05); The expression level of Rac-1 was positively correlated with HIF-1α in these breast cancer specimens (rs =0.414,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion The expression of Rac-1 is positively correlated with HIF-1α level in breast cancer. The relationship between Rac-1 and HIF-1α might be as a new important marker to estimate the invasion,metastasis extent and prognosis in breast cancer.Blocking the regulation between Rac-1 and HIF-1α might be a new treatment target in breast cancer. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1; Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; Immunohistochemistry