Impact of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 Levels in Tissue and Blood on the Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients
Project no. 29626 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2023
Summary
<p>Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide. Hypoxia and the associated activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) play a pivotal role in its pathogenesis. The central involvement of HIF-1α in tumor progression, angiogenesis, metastasis, and treatment resistance renders it a potential therapeutic target. This study aimed to investigate the changes in HIF-1α expression in both tumor tissue and plasma before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), and to evaluate their relationship with treatment response. Plasma samples were collected from 10 patients before and after NACT, and HIF-1α and VEGF levels were quantified using the ELISA method. Corresponding tru-cut biopsy specimens and post-operative tumor tissues were examined immunohistochemically, and HIF-1α expression was assessed. A significant decrease in tumor tissue HIF-1α expression following NACT suggested that this biomarker may be associated with treatment response. In plasma, mean HIF1α levels showed a ~30% reduction post-treatment; however, this change did not reach statistical significance. A moderate negative correlation was observed between pre-treatment plasma HIF-1α levels and tissue expression scores, though it did not attain statistical significance. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that plasma HIF-1α levels had limited discriminatory power in predicting treatment response. Moreover, post-treatment HIF-1α H-scores were significantly and positively correlated with tumor stage and lymph node positivity. These findings suggest that HIF-1α may serve as a prognostic biomarker and may play a role in predicting therapeutic outcomes. Keywords; Breast Neoplasms; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1; Neoadjuvant Therapy</p>