Relationships between expression of glucose transporter protein-1 and hypoxia inducible factor-1α, prognosis and 18F-FDG uptake in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinomas

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignant tumor, its morbidity ranks sixth among all malignant tumors, and, worldwide, the number of new cases is exceeds 500,000 each year (1). Although some new functional surgeries have used recently and patient quality of life has improved greatly, the 5-year survival rate for some HNSCC patients (laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma patients) has not improved significantly in the last 40 years (2). The poor survival associated with the advanced stage at diagnosis for the majority of cases and the lack of individual treatment. Thus, understanding the molecular biology of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma is important for early diagnosis and treatment, and may eventually provide new therapeutic targets for laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Warburg and colleagues found that, compared with normal tissue under aerobic conditions, the glucose consumption and lactic acid production of tumor tissues were increased. Indeed, the metabolism of malignant Original Article