0000000000283314
AUTHOR
Cornelia Leo
Lack of correlation between expression of HIF-1alpha protein and oxygenation status in identical tissue areas of squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix.
Abstract Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) has been proposed as a candidate endogenous marker of tumor hypoxia and as a molecular mediator of hypoxia-driven malignant progression and acquired treatment resistance. In this study, HIF-1α expression in 68 biopsies of oxygenation measurement tracks from squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix of 38 patients was assessed. Expression of HIF-1α was commonly found to increase as a function of distance from microvessels, at the center of tumor cell aggregations, and in the vicinity of necrotic areas. However, there was no correlation of HIF-1α expression with median oxygen tension (oxygen partial pressure; pO2) and hypoxic fractions (hypox…
Lack of Hypoxic Response in Uterine Leiomyomas despite Severe Tissue Hypoxia
Abstract Hypoxia is now established as a key factor influencing the pathophysiology of malignant growth. Among other effects, hypoxia modulates the expression of a multitude of genes through the induction of hypoxia-inducible transcription factors. This differential gene expression favors angiogenesis, cell survival, an invasive/metastatic phenotype, and resistance to anticancer therapies. Because benign tumors do not exhibit these traits, one might expect these entities to be neither hypoxic nor to induce the genetic hypoxia response program. To test this hypothesis, an investigation of the oxygenation status of 17 leiomyomas and 1 leiomyosarcoma of the uterus using polarographic needle el…