Objective: To study the expression and significance of hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1alpha) in epithelial ovarian tumors.
Methods: The expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA in 295 patients with epithelial ovarian tumor was analyzed retrospectively by high-throughput tissue microarray and in situ hybridization, which was compared with 13 normal ovarian tissue samples.
Results: The expression rates of HIF-1alpha mRNA were 0, 13.2%, 42.1% and 81.9% in normal ovarian tissue, benign, borderline and malignant ovarian tumors. Expression rate of HIF-1alpha mRNA in borderline and invasive tumor was significantly higher than those in normal ovarian tissue and benign tumor (P < 0.001). Statistical analysis revealed that the expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA was not related to FIGO stages or histological subtypes. Close negative relation was observed between the expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA and tumor histological differentiation (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The overexpression of HIF-1alpha may play an important role in oncogenesis of epithelial ovarian tumor. Tissue microarray is an efficient technique of molecular biology.