TY - JOUR AB - The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor‑1α (HIF‑1α) in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) and to assess its possible impact on prognosis. A total of 49 tumor samples and 15 adjacent non‑tumor samples from 49 patients treated between January 2000 and December 2005 at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital of Stomatology, Tongji University (Shanghai, China) were obtained for investigation with immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription‑polymerase chain reaction (RT‑PCR). The expression of HIF‑1α was detected in 87.76% (43/49) of the TSCC samples and in 33.33% (5/15) of the adjacent non‑tumor tissues. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was also observed in 83.67% (41/49) of the TSCC samples and in only 20% (3/15) of the adjacent non‑tumor samples at a low level. RT‑PCR revealed that the mRNA expression of HIF‑1α and VEGF was present in the tumor tissues; however, it was barely detected in the corresponding adjacent normal tissues. The overexpression of HIF‑1α was significantly associated with T classification (P=0.01), lymphatic metastasis (P=0.05) and histological differentiation (P<0.001). Furthermore, HIF‑1α overexpression was significantly associated with poor overall (P=0.001) and disease‑free survival rates (P=0.01), independent of T stage and lymphatic metastasis. The Cox proportional hazards regression model demonstrated that the level of HIF‑1α expression may be an independent prognostic factor for TSCC. HIF‑1α overexpression was observed in TSCC and its overexpression suggests a poor prognosis. HIF‑1α may be a molecular marker for predicting the prognosis of TSCC. AD - Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital of Stomatology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, P.R. China Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital of Stomatology, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325035, P.R. China AU - Kang,Fei-Wu AU - Gao,Yin AU - Que,Lin AU - Sun,Jing AU - Wang,Zuo-Lin DA - 2013/01/01 DO - 10.3892/etm.2012.779 EP - 118 IS - 1 JO - Exp Ther Med KW - hypoxia hypoxia‑inducible factor‑1α vascular endothelial growth factor tongue squamous cell carcinoma prognosis PY - 2013 SN - 1792-0981 1792-1015 SP - 112 ST - Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α overexpression indicates poor clinical outcomes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma T2 - Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine TI - Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α overexpression indicates poor clinical outcomes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2012.779 VL - 5 ER -