Expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α correlates to biological and clinical significance in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Yan-Mei Liu,Wei-Jun Chen,Shen-Peng Ying,Yong Liang,Ying-Rui Huang,Qin-Yan Shen,Yin Pan,Jin-Ye Xu,Ling-Qin Ni

doi:10.1186/s12957-016-0785-9

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to detect the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared with normal thyroid tissues.MethodsThe mRNA levels and protein levels of HIF-1α and HIF-2α were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot separately in 30 pairs of PTCs and normal thyroid cases. The protein levels were also detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using 92 samples of PTC group and 46 normal samples as control group for analyzing the biological and clinical significance of the expression of HIF-1α/HIF-2α.ResultsReal-time PCR results showed the mRNA level of HIF-1α and HIF-2α were significantly higher in PTC than normal group (P < 0.001). Also, significantly higher positive rates (73 %/65 %) of HIF-1α and HIF-2α were observed in PTC compared with the control group (27 %/35 %) by IHC (P < 0.01); the consistent results were gotten with Western blot. Although we did not find a significant correlation between the expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α with gender, age, calcification, or Hashimoto’s disease in the present study (P > 0.05), both of their expressions were correlated to lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05), capsular invasion (P < 0.05), and TNM stage (P < 0.05).ConclusionsOverexpression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α are associated with the carcinogenesis of PTC, served as potential biomarkers of PTC.

Highlights

The aim of this study was to detect the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared with normal thyroid tissues
Immunohistochemistry expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in PTC The protein levels of HIF-1α and HIF-2α were first measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on paraffin slides of 92 samples of PTC and paired 46 relatively normal tissues
Western blot expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in PTC To explore the expression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in PTC, Western blot was applied to detect the protein levels of them in four paired PTC specimens

Summary

Introduction

The aim of this study was to detect the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared with normal thyroid tissues. The incidence of thyroid cancer, especially papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), was increased constantly over the recent years at a remarkable rate, averaging almost 4 % per year [2]. HIF-α subunits are stabilized and translocated to the nucleus where they heterodimerize with arylhydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) and bind to hypoxia response elements (HREs) located within. There are three types of HIF-α subunits, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and HIF-3α, and at present, the HIF-1α and HIF-2α gained more attention [9,10,11,12]. Overexpression of HIF-1α and HIF-2α correlated with different kinds of cancers, respectively [17, 18]

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