Expression of receptor for activated C kinase 1, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α, and vascular endothelial growth factor in cervical cancer and their pathological significance / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To detect the expression of receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1), hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in cervical cancer, and to explore their pathological significance. Methods: Eighty-fve cervical cancer samples and their corresponding paracancerous tissues, which were surgically removed and confrmed by pathology in our hospital from Jun. 2014 to Jun. 2018, were included in this study. The protein expression levels of RACK1, HIF-1α and VEGF were detected by immunohistochemical staining. The relationship between the protein expression of RACK1, HIF-1α and VEGF in cervical cancer tissues and clinicopathological features, including age, tumor diameter, invasion depth, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis, were analyzed, and the correlation between the expression of RACK1, HIF-1α and VEGF was analyzed. Results: Compared with paracancerous tissues, the protein expression levels of RACK1, HIF-1α and VEGF in cervical cancer tissues were significantly higher (all P<0.05), with the positive rates being 81.2% (69/85), 63.5% (54/85), and 89.4% (76/85), respectively. The expression of RACK1 was associated with clinical stage, invasion depth and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05). The expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF were associated with the tumor diameter, invasion depth, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (all P<0.05). The expression levels of RACK1, HIF-1, VEGF proteins were positively correlated with each other (RACK1 vs HIF-1α, r = 0.523, P = 0.043 9; RACK1 vs VEGF, r=0.428, P = 0.033 7; HIF-1α vs VEGF, r = 0.689, P=0.024 5). Conclusion: RACK1, HIF-1α and VEGF are highly expressed in cervical cancer and their expression levels are positively correlated, suggesting that they may play a synergistic role in the development and progression of cervical cancer, and can be an important marker for predicting the invasion, metastasis and prognosis.