Survival in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma is predicted by HIF-1α expression.

AIM: To investigate hypoxia inducible factor-1α's (HIF-1α) immunohistochemical expression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) treated with radical nephrectomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty-eight patients were considered from those who underwent radical nephrectomy between 1983 and 1993. Archived materials were retrieved from the Institute of Pathological Anatomy for immunostaining. The features considered on the histological specimens were tumor stage, grade, as well as cellular and vascular HIF-1α expression. All considered parameters were correlated with time to recurrence (TTR) and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS: TTR was significantly longer in patients with low cellular HIF-1α expression; patients' survival was higher in those with low HIF-1α expression. Regarding vascular HIF-1α expression, the differences were not statistically significant when considering TTR and OS. On univariate analysis, age, clinical stage and HIF-1α cellular expression showed a significant association with OS.

CONCLUSION: Cellular HIF-1α is an important indicator of prognosis in patients with ccRCC; high HIF-1α expression predicts poor survival.