Objective This study investigated the expression of BNIP3 in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) and its correlations to the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with SACC. The role of BNIP3 in the progress of hypoxia-induced autophagy was elucidated.Methods The expression levels of BNIP3, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α, and LC3 in 65 SACC cases were detected by immunohistochemical staining method, and the correlation between the expression of BNIP3 and the clinicopathological features in SACC was analyzed. In addition, the correlations of BNIP3 gene expression with HIF-1α and LC3 gene expression were analyzed. The survival rate of patients with SACC was evaluated by univariate survival analysis.Results BNIP3 was considerably expressed in SACC in all three histological patterns, and was positive in 41 cases (63.1%). BNIP3 gene expression was significantly correlated with histological grade (P=0.001) and HIF-1α gene expression (P=0.011). By contrast, BNIP3 gene expression was not significantly correlated with LC3 gene expression (P=0.167). The overall survival rate of patients with negative BNIP3 expression was better than that of patients with positive BNIP3 expression (PConclusion BNIP3 might play a vital role in the tumorigenesis of SACC and may be a new target for gene therapy.
