Hipoxia y cáncer

Résumé

Hypoxia or deficient oxygen supply to tissues characterize a serie of pathological situations, included cancer. Hypoxic environment activates a signaling cascade that induces or represses the transcription of a multitute of genes involved in angiogenesis, metastasis, glucose metabolism and cell surviving. The responsible of the hypoxia-induced transcriptional response is the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1), an heterodimeric transcription factor, consisting of an oxygen-sensitive alpha subunit (HIF-a), and a constitutive beta subunit (HIF-ß), that facilitate both oxygen deprivation. HIF pathway is a positive regulator of tumor growth as its inhibition often results in tumor suppression. In clinical tumor samples, HIF is found elevated and correlates with poor patient prognosis in a variety of cancers. The identification of novel molecules targets for cancer therapy, has led to a shift in drug development, with more emphasis on small molecules that can efficiently inhibit the signaling pathways deregulated in cancer