Hypoxia-inducible factors and hypoxic cell death in tumour physiology

Abstract

Hypoxic up-regulation of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) during tumourigenesis presents an interesting paradox with respect to their role in tumour growth. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) plays a key role in the adaptive response to hypoxia, trans-activating many genes whose protein products are involved in pathways of angiogenesis, glucose metabolism and cell proliferation, thus facilitating tumour progression. However, it is also emerging that up-regulation of HIF-1 trans-activates anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic genes (such as BNIP3, NIX

• Apoptosis
• Bnip3
• Hypoxia-inducible Factor
• Necrosis