Expression and significance of TLR9 and HIF-1α in pancreatic cancer / 中华胰腺病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and hypoxia inducible factor 1 α (HIF-1 α) in pancreatic cancer.Methods The real-time RT-PCR technique,western blot method and immunohistochemical method were used to examine the expressions of TLR9 and HIF-1α in 30 samples of pancreatic cancer,para-cancerous tissues,and 10 samples of normal pancreatic tissues.The relationship between TLR9 and HIF-1 α was determined,and the correlations between their expressions and clinicopathological parameters were measured,and the impact on survival was detected.Results The levels of TLR9 mRNA and HIF-1 α mRNA expression in human pancreatic cancer tissues was 2.32(1.41～3.22) and 2.26 (1.62～ 2.89) folds as many as that in normal tissues.The levels of TLR9 mRNA and HIF-1α mRNA expression in para-cancerous tissues were 1.23 (1.18 ～ 1.28) and 1.36 (1.17 ～1.55) folds as many as that in normal tissues.The expressions in human pancreatic cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in para-cancerous tissues (t =2.642,P =0.023 ; t =4.076,P =0.001).The positive rates of TLR9 and HIF 1α protein were 73.3％ (22/30) and 70.0％ (21/30),and the corresponding values were 33.3％ (10/30) and 36.7％ (11/30) in para-cancerous tissues,while the corresponding values were 20％ (2/10) and 10％ (1/10) in normal tissues,which showed a decreasing trend (x2 =13.99,P =0.001 ;x2 =13.15,P =0.001).The expressions of TLR9 mRNA in human pancreatic cancer tissues was positively associated with HIF 1 α mRNA (r =0.537,P =0.003).The expressions of TLR9 protein was also positively associated with HIF 1α protein (r =0.511,P =0.001).The expressions of TLR9 and HIF 1α were positively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation,TNM staging and lymph node metastasis,but were negatively correlated with the survival.Conclusions TLR9 and HIF-1α are over-expressed in pancreatic cancer and they are associated with malignant biological behavior and poor prognosis.