The prognostic impact of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and p-Akt expressions in gastric adenocarcinoma

Abstract

4560 Background: We investigated the impact of expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α and phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) on prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma patients. Methods: Expressions of HIF-1α protein and p-Akt were studied by immunohistochemistry in 188 gastric adenocarcinoma patients. We investigated the impact of HIF-1α and p-Akt on survival. Furthermore we analyzed the correlation of expression of HIF-1α and p-Akt to clinicopathologic features. Results: Among 188 gastric adenocarcinoma patients, 158 (84%) and 148 (78.7%) were positive for HIF-1α and p-Akt. HIF-1α protein expression showed an impact on survival of gastric adenocarcinoma patients by both univariate and multivariate factors analysis. The median survival was significantly different between HIF-1α negative and positive patients (not reached vs 30.9 months, p=0.039, log rank test). High expressions of HIF-1α and p-Akt were significantly correlated with pTNM stage (p=0.004 for HIF-1α and p=0.031 for p-Akt), depth of invasion (p<0.001 for both HIF-1α and p-Akt), lymph node metastasis (p<0.001 for both HIF-1α and p-Akt) and differentiated levels (p<0.001 for HIF-1α and p<0.012 for p-Akt). In addition, there was a significant correlation of HIF-1α protein expression and p-Akt (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our results showed that expression of HIF-1α protein was an independent factor on survival of gastric adenocarcinoma patients. The median survival was significant longer in patients with HIF-1α negative than positive. High expression of HIF-1α and p-Akt were significantly correlated with poor clinicopathologic features. No significant financial relationships to disclose.