The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha modifying enzymes prolyl hydroxylase (PHD)1, PHD2 and PHD3 to response of tumours and survival in breast cancer patients enrolled in a phase II trial of neoadjuvant anthracycline and tamoxifen therapy.

The expression of PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3 together with HIF-1alpha and the HIF-inducible genes vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) and carbonic anhydrase (CA) IX were assessed by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray approach in 211 patients with T2-4 N0-1 breast cancer enrolled in a randomized trial comparing single agent epirubicin versus epirubicin and tamoxifen as primary systemic treatment.

PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3 were detected in 47/179 (26.7%), 85/163 (52.2%) and 69/177 (39%) of tumours at baseline. PHD2 and PHD3 expression was moderate/strong whereas PHD1 expression was generally weak. There was a significant positive correlation between HIF-1alpha and PHD1 (P = 0.002) and PHD3 (P < 0.05) but not PHD2 (P = 0.41). There was a significant positive relationship between VEGF and PHD1 (P < 0.008) and PHD3 (P = 0.001) but not PHD2 (P = 0.09). PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3 expression was significantly increased after epirubicin therapy (all P < 0.000) with no significant difference in PHD changes between the treatment arms. There was no significant difference in response in tumours that expressed PHDs and PHD expression was not associated with survival.

Although expression of the PHDs was not related to response or survival in patients receiving neoadjuvant epirubicin, our data provides the first evidence that these enzymes are upregulated on therapy in breast cancer and that the biological effects independent of HIF make them therapeutic targets.

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