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The Expression of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Correlation with Patients’ Prognosis and Hepatitis B Virus X Protein

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Abstract

Hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) was well correlated with carcinogenesis and tumor progression in many kinds of cancer. In this study, high expression of HIF-1α was found in 37 of the 72 (51.39%) tumor specimens, and significantly correlated with venous invasion and lymphonode invasion. Patients with high expression of HIF-1α had a significantly shorter overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate than those with low expression. Multivariate analysis showed high HIF-1α expression was a borderline independent factor of overall survival. HIF-1α expression was also found to be significantly correlated with the expression of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx), and over-expressed HBx upregulated HIF-1α protein expression in vitro. These results suggested that HIF-1α, which was partially regulated by HBx, might be a prognostic marker of HBV-related HCC patients.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30371585, 30570835 and 30771889) and National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863) (Grant No. 2006AA02Z468). We greatly thank technicians Zheng Chen, Taidong Qiao, and Fucheng Ma for their excellent technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Huahong Xie, Jiugang Song, Kaige Liu, Huiqin Shen, Shengjuan Hu, Guitao Yang, Yulei Du, Xue Zou, Haifeng Jin, Li Yan, Jie Liu & Daiming Fan

  2. Department of Geriatric Gastroenterology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command of PLA, Nanjing, 210002, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Hongzan Ji

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  1. Huahong Xie
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  2. Jiugang Song
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  3. Kaige Liu
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  4. Hongzan Ji
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  12. Jie Liu
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Correspondence to Jie Liu or Daiming Fan.

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Dr. Huahong Xie, Dr. Jiugang Song, and Dr. Kaige Liu contributed equally to this study.

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Xie, H., Song, J., Liu, K. et al. The Expression of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Correlation with Patients’ Prognosis and Hepatitis B Virus X Protein. Dig Dis Sci 53, 3225–3233 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-008-0296-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-008-0296-9

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