Expression and Significance of Hypoxia‐Inducible Factor–1α and Survivin in Laryngeal Carcinoma Tissue and Cells

Abstract

The aim was to evaluate hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and survivin expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) tissues and cell lines and to investigate whether HIF-1α has an effect on the regulation of survivin gene expression in LSCC cells under hypoxia. Prospective, observational. Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated First People's Hospital. The expression of HIF-1α and survivin protein in human LSCC tissues was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. HIF-1α and survivin gene expression levels in Hep-2 cells were detected by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. In hypoxic cells, HIF-1α expression was inhibited by RNA interference. HIF-1α and survivin were both highly expressed in LSCC tissues and significantly related to the clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (P < .05). Meanwhile, a positive correlation existed between HIF-1α and survivin expression (r = 0.456, P < .01). In LSCC cells, HIF-1α and survivin expression were obviously upregulated in response to hypoxia (P < .05). The downregulation of HIF-1α expression dramatically decreased survivin gene expression in hypoxic cells (P < .05). HIF-1α could be considered as an important regulator for the upregulation of survivin gene expression induced by hypoxia in LSCC cells, and both proteins could be regarded as 2 key predictors of malignant progression and metastasis of LSCC.