HYPOXIA AND VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH-FACTOR EXPRESSION IN HUMAN SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS USING PIMONIDAZOLE AS A HYPOXIA MARKER

Hypoxia in human tumors is associated with poor prognosis, but the mol ecular mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood. O ne possibility is that hypoxia is linked to malignant progression thro ugh vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induction and the associ ated angiogenesis and metastasis, The present clinical study measures hypoxia and VEGF expression on a cell-by-cell basis in human squamous cell carcinomas to test the hypothesis that hypoxia and VEGF protein e xpression are coupled in human tumors. Eighteen patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and head and neck have been investigated by a quantitative image analysis of immunostained se ctions from their tumors. The hypoxia marker pimonidazole was used to measure tumor hypoxia, and a commercially available antibody was used to measure VEGF protein expression. A quantitative immunohistochemical comparison of hypoxia and VEGF protein expression revealed no correla tion between the two factors.