The Expression of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Correlation with Patients’ Prognosis and Hepatitis B Virus X Protein

• DOI: 10.1007/s10620-008-0296-9
• Publication Date: 2008-05-08T19:32:10Z
• Authors: Huahong Xie; Jiugang Song; Kaige Liu; Hongzan Ji; Huiqin Shen; Shengjuan Hu; Guitao Yang; Yulei Du; Xue Zou; Haifeng Jin; Li Yan; Jie Liu; Daiming Fan
• Keywords: HBx; Hypoxia; Hypoxia-Inducible Factors

Hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) was well correlated with carcinogenesis and tumor progression in many kinds of cancer. In this study, high expression of HIF-1alpha was found in 37 of the 72 (51.39%) tumor specimens, and significantly correlated with venous invasion and lymphonode invasion. Patients with high expression of HIF-1alpha had a significantly shorter overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate than those with low expression. Multivariate analysis showed high HIF-1alpha expression was a borderline independent factor of overall survival. HIF-1alpha expression was also found to be significantly correlated with the expression of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx), and over-expressed HBx upregulated HIF-1alpha protein expression in vitro. These results suggested that HIF-1alpha, which was partially regulated by HBx, might be a prognostic marker of HBV-related HCC patients.