Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of hypoxia inducible factor- 1α ( HIF-1α) and heparanase ( HPA), and their relationship during hypoxia in human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 . Methods SKOV3 cells were incubated in different groups ,immucytochemistry was applied to qualitatively assay HPA protein, western-blot was used to detect the protein expression of HIF-1α and HPA, and mRNA expression was determined by RT-PCR. Results The positive expression of HPA localized in cytoplasma. Western-blot analysis revealed that the protein expression of HIF-1α was significantly increased (P<0.05) under hypoxia for 12h, and remained at high level for 24h and 36h(P<0.05) . Compared with the unchanged mRNA expression of HIF-1α , rapamycin couldn't chang the tendency, however, it inhibited the up-regulation of HIF-1α protein expression. Meanwhile the protein and mRNA expression of HPA remained the increasing tendency markly (P<0.05) during 12-36h period. And HPA expression was also decreased abundantly after utilizing rapamycin . Conclusions Hypoxia promotes the expression of HPA through the HIF-1α pathway ,which plays an important role in the metastasis of ovarian cancer.

Key words: ovarian neoplasms, heparanase, rapamycin, hypoxia inducible factor-1α