Molecular aspects of tumour hypoxia

Rademakers, Saskia E.; Span, Paul N.; Kaanders, Johannes H.A.M.; Sweep, Fred C.G.J.; van der Kogel, Albert J.; Bussink, Johan

doi:10.1016/j.molonc.2008.03.006

« Previous Next »Molecular Oncology
Volume 2, Issue 1 , Pages 41-53, June 2008

Molecular aspects of tumour hypoxia

Saskia E. Rademakers
- Department of Radiation Oncology, 874 Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
Paul N. Span
- Department of Chemical Endocrinology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
Johannes H.A.M. Kaanders
- Department of Radiation Oncology, 874 Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
Fred C.G.J. Sweep
- Department of Chemical Endocrinology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
Albert J. van der Kogel
- Department of Radiation Oncology, 874 Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
Johan Bussink
- Department of Radiation Oncology, 874 Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, Nijmegen 6500 HB, The Netherlands
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 24 3614515. fax: +31 24 3610792.

Received 12 March 2008; received in revised form 14 March 2008; accepted 17 March 2008. published online 23 April 2008.

Abstract

Hypoxia is an important feature of the microenvironment of a wide range of solid tumours. Its critical role in radio- and chemoresistance and its significance as an adverse prognostic factor have been well established over the last decades. On a cellular level, hypoxia evokes a complex molecular response with a central role for the HIF-1 pathway. The cellular processes under control of HIF-1 contain important prognostic information and comprise potential candidates for directing hypoxia-modifying therapies. This review will provide an overview of the current knowledge on the molecular aspects of tumour hypoxia and the link to clinical practice.

Keywords: Tumour hypoxia, HIF-1, Hypoxic markers, Molecular response, Unfolded protein response, UPR