Prognostic value of plasma levels of HIF-1a and PGC-1a in breast cancer

Cellular adaptive mechanisms are crucial for tumorigenesis and a common feature in solid tumor progression. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) facilitates the biological response to hypoxia, advancing angiogenesis and metastatic potential of the tumor. The peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivators 1α (PGC-1α) enhances mitochondrial biogenesis, favored by migratory/invasive cancer cells. We conducted a prospective, long-term follow up study to determine whether HIF-1α and PGC-1α can be implemented as predictive biomarker in breast cancer. HIF-1α and PGC-1α plasma concentrations were measured in patients and in healthy controls by enzyme linked immune sorbent assay. Breast cancer patients had significantly higher HIF-1α and PGC-1α levels, which correlated with clinicopathological features, overall with more aggressive cancer characteristics. Disease free and overall survival of breast cancer patients with high HIF-1α and PGC-1α were significantly poorer than in patients with low plasma levels. In multivariate analysis, high amount of PGC-1α showed independent prognostic value. Our data suggests that HIF-1α and PGC-1α may be promising, noninvasive, biomarkers with a high potential for future clinical implication to identify subgroups of patients with poorer prognosis and to indicate early, subclinical metastasis.