Investigation of the relationship between HIF-1α and KDM3A gene expression and colorectal carcinoma

Colorectal cancer is one of the common cancers and associated with increased mortality. The importance of HIF-1α has been recognized in some studies revealing the relationship between hypoxia and CRC in humans. HIF-1α expression can be regulated by KDM3A. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between HIF-1α, KDM3A and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) gene expressions and colorectal carcinoma. qRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression level of HIF-1α, KDM3A, and EMT genes in 50 patients with colorectal cancer and 50 healthy controls. HIF-1α, KDM3A, Slug and ZEB-1 expression levels were significantly higher in the CRC group compared to the controls. In ROC analysis 0.664 AUC was acquired. The test was also showed 85.4% specificity and 54% sensitivity for separating CRC patients from healthy controls by using the KDM3A expression levels. This is the first study to show the relationship between colorectal cancer and KDM3A gene expression level in human peripheral leukocyte samples. Results of the study suggested that KDM3A might be an important marker gene in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.