Expression of HIF-1α, ANXA3, CD133 and their associations with clinicopathological parameters in human colon carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Our previous study found an association between the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α) and annexin A3 (ANXA3) in colon cancer. ANXA3 correlated with expansion of CD133(+) tumor cells in hepatocellular carcinoma cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), for which CD133 has been recognized as a typical marker in many cancer cells, including: gastric cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. But the expression and association of HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 in colon cancer has not been reported. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the correlation among the expression of HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 in human colon cancer and to investigate its clinicopathological parameters. METHODS: The data for 35 patients diagnosed with colon adenocarcinoma in The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and who had undergone colectomy, tumor and adjacent normal colon tissues were collected. The expressions of HIF-1α, ANXA3, and CD133 were measured by immunohistochemistry in colon cancer and surrounding non-tumor tissues and measured by using a semiquantitative score system. Finally, relationships between HIF-1α, ANXA3, and CD133 immunohistochemical staining and clinicopathologic variables were analyzed using the Fisher’s exact probability test. Associations between the expression levels of HIF-1α, ANXA3, and CD133 were analyzed by the Spearman’s rank correlation. RESULTS: The positive rate of expression of HIF-1α in colon cancer and normal colon tissue was 80% (28/35) and 14% (5/35), 77% (27/35) and 20% (7/35) for ANXA3, and 71% (25/35) and 23% (8/35) for CD133, respectively. The coefficient of correlation for the association among HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 showed that the expression of HIF-1α was positively related with ANXA3 and CD133 in colon cancer tissues (r(1)=0.408, P(1)=0.015, r(2)=0.474, P2=0.004) and a positive correlation was observed between the expression of ANXA3 and CD133 (r(3)=0.409, P(3)=0.015). Expression of HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 were associated with tumor size, lymphatic metastasis and clinic stage of colon cancer (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 were overexpressed in human colon cancer and showed positive correlations among themselves. The expression of HIF-1α, ANXA3 and CD133 were closely related to the size of the tumor, lymphatic metastasis and clinical stage of colon cancer, which indicated that they could be promising biomarkers for the study of colon CSCs and treatment of colon carcinoma.