In ovarian cancer tissues, the expression levels of HIF-1α, Snail and E-cadherin were correlated with clinical pathological factors (P<0.01); furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the expression levels of HIF-1α and Snail (r=0.231; P=0.021), and a negative correlation between the expression levels of Snail and that of E-cadherin (r=−0.225; P=0.028). Here, CDH1 is linked to ovarian carcinoma.