Open Access Highly Accessed Research article

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, in association with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC, is a critical prognostic factor in patients with HCC after surgery

Chen-Xin Dai1†, Qiang Gao1†, Shuang-Jian Qiu1, Min-Jie Ju1, Ming-Yan Cai1, Yong-Feng Xu1, Jian Zhou1, Bo-Heng Zhang1,3 and Jia Fan1,2*

Author Affiliations

1 Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital and Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China

2 Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China

3 Center for Evidence Based Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China

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BMC Cancer 2009, 9:418 doi:10.1186/1471-2407-9-418

Published: 1 December 2009

Abstract

Background

Despite well-studied tumor hypoxia in laboratory, little is known about the association with other pathophysiological events in the clinical view. We investigated the prognostic value of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlations with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC oncogene.

Methods

In a random series of 110 HCC patients, the mRNA of HIF-1alpha, inflammation related factors (COX-2, MMP7 and MMP9), angiogenesis related factors (VEGF and PDGFRA) and MYC in tumor tissue were detected by real-time RT-PCR and HIF-1alpha protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between HIF-1alpha mRNA and the factors mentioned previously, the relationship between HIF-1alpha and clinicopathologic features, and the prognostic value were analyzed.

Results

The expression of both HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein in HCC were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) (P = 0.012 and P = 0.021, respectively) and disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.004 and P = 0.007, respectively) as well. Besides, the high expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein proposed an advanced BCLC stage and more incidence of vascular invasion. The mRNA of HIF-1alpha had significantly positive correlations to that of COX-2, PDGFRA, MMP7, MMP9, MYC, except VEGF. In addition to HIF-1alpha, COX-2 and PDGFRA were also independent prognosticators for OS (P = 0.004 and P = 0.010, respectively) and DFS (P = 0.010 and P = 0.038, respectively).

Conclusion

HIF-1alpha in HCC plays an important role in predicting patient outcome. It may influence HCC biological behaviors and affect the tumor inflammation, angiogenesis and act in concert with the oncogene MYC. Attaching importance to HIF-1alpha in HCC may improve the prognostic and therapeutic technique.