Abstract

Association between the expression of HIF-1�± and VEGF and prognostic implications in primary liver cancer

The goal of this study was to investigate the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in primary liver cancer (PLC) and their association with prognosis. Tumor tissue, non-tumor tissue, and blood samples of 75 PLC patients were collected. Blood samples of 20 volunteers were also collected as healthy controls. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the mRNA levels of HIF-1α and VEGF in the tissues. Protein expression of HIF-1α and VEGF was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF at the serum level. Univariate tests, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, and the Student t-test were used to analyze the data. HIF-1α and VEGF showed higher expression in PLC tumor tissue both at the mRNA and protein levels. HIF-1α and VEGF expression was positive in 62.67 and 66.67% of PLC patients, respectively. HIF-1α and VEGF expression was significantly related to tumor stage and lymph nodes and lung metastases.

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