Expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha is associated with an unfavorable prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

7147 Background: Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) -1alpha is a transcription factor that mediates adaptive responses of human cells in tissue hypoxia. HIF-1alpha activates various factors supporting tumor growth and progression. HIF-1alpha expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however, has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of HIF-1alpha protein and its relation to clinicopathologic features and prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Methods: We studied retrospectively expression of HIF-1alpha protein in 139 patients with NSCLC by immunohistochemistry. Nuclear expression of HIF-1alpha was measured by observing 1000 cancer cells. The percentage of positive cells was rated as follows: negative expression, cases with <10% positive cells; weak expression, 10–50% positive cells; moderate expression, 50.1–80% positive cells; and strong expression, cases with 80% positive cells. Expression of HIF-1alpha was compared in relation to clinicopathologic fin...