Expression of VEGF, its receptors, and HIF-1α in Dupuytren’s disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Dupuytren's disease (DD) is a benign fibroproliferative process that affects the palmar fascia. The pathology of DD shows similarities with wound healing and tumor growth; hypoxia and angiogenesis play important roles in both. We investigated the role of angiogenic proteins in DD. PATIENTS AND METHODS The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), its receptors vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), hypoxia-inducible factor alfa (HIF-1α), and alfa-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were analyzed immunohistochemically in fragments of excised Dupuytren's tissue from 32 patients. We compared these values to values for expression in a control group. RESULTS 15 of 32 samples could be attributed to the involutional phase (α-SMA positive), whereas 17 samples were considered to be cords at the residual phase (α-SMA negative). In the involutional phase, the HIF-1α and VEGFR2 expression was statistically significantly higher than in the residual phase and in the controls. INTERPRETATION Both the VEGFR2 receptor and HIF-1α were expressed in α-SMA positive myofibroblast-rich nodules with characteristics of DD in the active involutional phase. Thus, hypoxia and (subsequently) angiogenesis may have a role in the pathophysiology of DD.