Abstract
Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) has been proposed as a candidate endogenous marker of tumor hypoxia and as a molecular mediator of hypoxia-driven malignant progression and acquired treatment resistance. In this study, HIF-1α expression in 68 biopsies of oxygenation measurement tracks from squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix of 38 patients was assessed. Expression of HIF-1α was commonly found to increase as a function of distance from microvessels, at the center of tumor cell aggregations, and in the vicinity of necrotic areas. However, there was no correlation of HIF-1α expression with median oxygen tension (oxygen partial pressure; pO2) and hypoxic fractions (hypoxic fraction < 2.5 mm Hg, hypoxic fraction < 5 mm Hg). The results indicate that HIF-1α should not be used as an endogenous marker of tumor hypoxia in locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix. Additionally, no significant prognostic impact of HIF-1α expression was found in this group of patients.
Footnotes
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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Note: This manuscript partly contains results from the doctoral thesis of Alexander Wree.
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Requests for reprints: Arnulf Mayer, Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Mainz, Duesbergweg 6, 55128 Mainz, Germany. Phone: 49-6131-39-25203; Fax: 49-6131-39-25774; E-mail: arnmayer{at}uni-mainz.de
- Received November 13, 2003.
- Revision received June 3, 2004.
- Accepted June 15, 2004.
- ©2004 American Association for Cancer Research.
Volume 64, Issue 16
