Co-expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF1α) & glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) is associated with poor prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

• Published in: Histopathology Vol. 58; no. 7
• Main Authors: Eckert, Alexander, Lautner, Matthias Mhw, Schütze, Andreas, Taubert, Helge, Schubert, Johannes, Bilkenroth, Udo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 25-03-2011
• Subjects: Medicine
• ISSN: 0309-0167; 1365-2559
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2559.2011.03806.x

Summary Aims: To study if co-expression of the two hypoxia-related proteins HIF1α and GLUT-1 has prognostic relevance in oral squamous cell carcinomas [OSCC]. Methods and results: Eighty-two OSCC tumor samples were analyzed for expression levels of HIF1α and GLUT-1 by immunohistochemistry. Protein expression was assessed using an immunoreactive score system and the correlation between gene expression and both clinical and pathohistological parameters were examined. Overexpression of either GLUT-1 or HIF1α was associated with poor disease specific survival in OSCC patients. Multivariate Cox's proportional-hazards regression analysis revealed that an increased expression of HIF1α was significantly associated with disease specific survival (RR=3.24, p=0.024) as compared to the group with low level of expression. Co-expression of both HIF1α and GLUT-1 were additively and significantly associated with adverse prognoses in patients with OSCC. Patients whose tumors had increased levels of expression of both HIF1α and GLUT-1 were found to have a 5.13-fold increased risk of tumor-related death (p=0.017). Conclusions: Co-expression of high levels of HIF1α and GLUT-1 is significantly correlated with prognosis in OSCC patients, suggesting that the co-expression of these proteins can be used as both an early diagnostic and independent prognostic marker.