EXPRESSION OF HYPOXIA-INDUCIBLE FACTOR-1 ALPHA IN HUMAN STOMACH CANCER TISSUES AND ITS LINKS WITH SOME CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STOMACH CANCER

Osynsky S.P., Gumenyuk L.D., Osynsky D.S., Merentsev S.P.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) is a transcription factor which ensures tumor cells’ adaptation to hypoxia andtriggers various pathways that support tumor growth and progression. The study was aimed at measuring the level of HIF-1α expression in human stomach cancer (SC) tissues and assessingits prognostic significance. HIF-1 alpha expression was measured as part of immunohistochemi- cal examination performed in 82 stomach cancer patients (stages I to IV). The patients have undergone surgery. Tu- mors were shown to be HIF-1α positive in 91,5% patients. In terms of the number of cells expressing HIF-1α, tumors distributed as follows: this indicator waslowin 57,3% cases; medium in 30,0% cases; and high in 3,7% cases. HIF-1α expression was shown to be associated with neither clinical norhistological characteristics. However, atendencywasre- vealed towards acorrelation with the level of tumor differen- tiation. HIF-1α expression was shown to be associated with better general survivalrates, but this association was not statistically significant (p > 0,05).