Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α promotes the malignant progression of cervical cancer cells by regulating lactate dehydrogenase A-mediated glycolysis

Background: Enhanced glycolysis is a hallmark of metabolic reprogramming in cervical cancer and plays a key role in tumor progression. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), a core regulator of glycolytic metabolism, remains incompletely characterized in cervical cancer. This study aimed to investigate the expression pattern and clinical significance of HIF-1α in cervical cancer, and to explore its association with malignant biological behavior and lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA)-related glycolytic metabolism in cervical cancer cells.

Methods: The expression level, clinicopathological features, immune infiltration correlation, and prognostic value of HIF-1α in cervical cancer were analyzed based on the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. HIF-1α overexpression and knockdown models were established in HeLa and Caski cells. Cell viability and invasive ability were assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and Transwell assays, respectively. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blot were used to detect changes in LDHA expression. Lactate production was measured using a lactate assay kit, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were determined by flow cytometry.

Results: Bioinformatics analysis showed that HIF-1α was highly expressed in cervical cancer and was closely associated with patient age, menopausal status, immune cell infiltration, and poor prognosis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that patients with high HIF-1α expression had significantly worse overall survival (OS) than those with low expression. In vitro functional experiments further confirmed that HIF-1α overexpression significantly enhanced the viability and invasive ability of HeLa and Caski cells, whereas HIF-1α knockdown produced the opposite effects. HIF-1α overexpression was associated with increased messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression levels of LDHA, a key glycolytic molecule, along with increased lactate production and elevated intracellular ROS levels.

Conclusions: HIF-1α is aberrantly highly expressed in cervical cancer and may enhance glycolytic activity by upregulating LDHA expression, thereby promoting the proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer cells. These findings suggest that HIF-1α could serve as a potential diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic target biomarker for cervical cancer.