A pilot study on hypoxia of squamous cell carcinoma in oral cavity / 中华口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the extent of hypoxia in oral squamous cell carcinoma and investigate the factors related to the hypoxia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>An animal model of oral squamous cell carcinoma was established and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 99mTc-HL91 used to detect the hypoxia extent of the oral squamous cell carcinoma. The expression of hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) was examined by immunohistochemical staining in 42 cases of formalin-fixed paraffin-embed squamous cell carcinoma.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The uptake of 99mTc-HL91 in the tumor tissue was higher than that in normal tissue and had linear relation with the tumor size (P < 0.05). There was no HIF-1alpha expression in the normal oral mucosa. The expression of HIF-1alpha was high in oral mucosa carcinoma and closely related to the differentiation degree of tumor and metastasis of lymph node (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Tumor tissue had broad hypoxic region. HIF-1alpha highly expressed in oral squamous cell carcinoma and may play an important role in carcinogenesis and aggression.</p>