Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of General surgery, Drum Tower Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Department of Radiotherapy, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Department of Pathology, 101th Hospital of PLA, Wuxi, Jiangsu Providence, China
  • 4 Department of General surgery, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 5 Department of Medical, Gastroenterology unit, Nilai Medical Center, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • 6 Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 7 Department of Pathology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 8 Department of General surgery, 101th Hospital of PLA, Wuxi, Jiangsu Providence, China
J Cancer, 2017;8(10):1818-1825.
PMID: 28819379 DOI: 10.7150/jca.19057

Abstract

Background: Hypoxia was a common feature for accelerating tumor metastasis by both inducting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of tumor cells and polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). The association and roles between hypoxia, EMT and TAMs in the biological behavior of gastric cancer (GC) for the time being recurrence is unclear. Material and methods: hypoixa by expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α), polarized functional status of infiltrated TAMs by immunohistochemical staining of CD68 and CD163, and the expression of E-cadherin as EMT property had been evaluated in 236 patients consecutive with histologically confirmed GC. Clinical significance was assessed for all these patients. Results: High expression of HIF-1α was found in patients with aggressive features, especially for recurrent patients. High infiltration of TAMs and abnormal expression of EMT-marker were also related to aggressive characteristics and predicted poor prognosis in GC. Meanwwhile, there existed a significant correlation among expression of HIF-1α, infiltration of TAMs and EMT marker in GC tissues. Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that high expression of HIF-1α combined TAMs infiltration were independent prognostic factors for disease-specific survival rate. Conclusion: HIF-1α is an unfavorable indicator for prognosis, may promote tumor progression through the induction of EMT and establishment of a pro-tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. Further investigation into the therapeutic effects of blocking hypoxia is possible a potential strategy for GC treatment.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.