Background: To investigate the correlation of changes in hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and p53 expressions with vitamin B3 deficiency in skin cancer patients.
Methods: Twenty non-melanoma skin cancer patients with positive HIF-1α and p53 expressions were selected and randomly divided into two groups, the placebo group and the experimental group. After an appropriate number of cancer tissues were taken, the experimental group was treated with oral administration of 500 mg vitamin B3 every day, while the placebo group was treated with oral administration of the same amount of placebo; after 1 week, the skin cancer tissues in the same part were taken, and the skin tissues of healthy people were taken as the control group; the mRNA and protein expression levels of HIF-1α and p53 in tissues were detected.
Results: HIF-1α and p53 were mainly expressed in the nucleus in non-melanoma skin cancer. The protein and mRNA expression levels of HIF-1α and p53 in tissues of skin cancer patients were significantly increased compared with those in skin tissues of healthy people (P<0.05). The protein and mRNA expression levels of HIF-1α and p53 in tissues of skin cancer patients were significantly decreased at 1 week after the oral administration of vitamin B3 compared with those before the oral administration of vitamin B3 (P<0.05), but the protein and mRNA expression levels of HIF-1α and p53 in tissues of skin cancer patients in placebo group had no significant changes (P>0.05). The vitamin B3 deficiency in skin cancer patients was positively correlated with the expressions of HIF-1α and p53.
Conclusions: The expression levels of HIF-1α and p53 in tissues of skin cancer patients are significantly increased compared with those in skin tissues of healthy people, and the changes in their expressions are positively correlated with the vitamin B3 deficiency. Supplementing vitamin B3 has a certain protective effect on skin cancer patients.