Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Cancer

Low oxygen concentrations (hypoxia) are detrimental to most species on Earth; thus, cells have evolved with adaptations allowing them to withstand transient hypoxia. As with other survival pathways, cancer cells have co-opted these mechanisms to keep up with the metabolic demands of rapid growth and proliferation in harsh tumor microenvironments. The most well-studied oxygen response pathway involves hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) and their regulation by the von Hippel-Lindau protein (pVHL) and the prolyl hydroxylases (PHD1-3). This study from Zhong and colleagues, published in Cancer Research in 1999, was the first to show increased HIF1α expression in several cancer types and in metastases, suggesting a role for HIFs in disease progression. Since publication, significant progress has been made in the understanding of tumor hypoxia responses and efforts to target this pathway as a therapeutic strategy for patients with cancer are underway.See related article by Zhong and colleagues, Cancer Res 1999;59:5830-5.