Expression and significance of hypoxia inducible factor-1α in different phases of hemangioma and vascular malformation in infants and children

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression and effect of the hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cell proliferation nucleoantigen Ki-67 and blood vessel endothelium mark antigen CD34 in different phases of hemangioma, vascular malformation and normal skin in infants and children, in order to explore the role of hypoxia in the formation of hemangioma and cell proliferation. Methods Immunohistochemical streptavidin/peroxidase(SP) staining was applied to examine the expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, Ki-67 and CD34 in proliferating hemangioma, vascular malformation and normal skin. The microvessel density (MVD) was calculated in all cases. Results There were significant differences among the expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, Ki-67 and MVD of hemangioma in different phases of hemangioma and vascular malformation and normal skin (P<0.05). The expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, Ki-67 and MVD in hemangioma showed positive correlation, yet the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF showed no correlation in vascular malformation. Conelusions Hypoxia is commonly in all phases of hemangioma. HIF-1α can promote angiogenesis in hemangioma. However, there is probably no anoxic microenvironment in vascular malformation which is just vessel paramorphia with normal growth of blood vessel endothelial cells. So there is no proliferation in blood vessel endothelial cells and no appearance of proliferative or regressive phases as hemangioma in vascular malformation. Key words: Hemangioma; Vascular malformations; Hypoxia inducible factor 1, alpha subunit; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Proliferation cell nuclear antigen