Solid tumors frequently contain areas of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) due to rapid cell proliferation and/or vascular insufficiency. The presence of hypoxic domains typically correlates with poor patient prognosis, due to the relative resistance of hypoxic cells to conventional cancer therapies and effects of O2 availability on disease progression. The response of malignant cells to hypoxia has been the focus of intense research over the last decade. In this issue of Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, the authors present articles describing the impact of hypoxia on components of the tumor microenvironment (such as endothelial cells, inflammatory cells, and tumor associated fibroblasts), the expression of unique microRNAs, tumor cell differentiation status, and metastasis. Each review article describes the state of the field studying these topics, and poses important questions for the future. The overall goal is to depict tumor phenotypes and associated molecular pathways to be exploited in the development of novel therapeutics to be used against a broad spectrum of human cancers.
Hypoxia, defined as reduced oxygen tension, is a common physiological phenomenon in both normal embryonic development and malignancy progression. Although severe hypoxia is generally toxic for both normal tissue and tumors, neoplastic cells gradually adapt to prolonged hypoxia though additional genetic and genomic changes with a net result that hypoxia promotes tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Hypoxia promotes cancer progression by regulating various aspects of cancer biology, including radiotherapy resistance, metabolism, angiogenesis and invasion/migration
Hypoxia, defined as reduced oxygen tension, is a common physiological phenomenon in both normal embryonic development and malignancy progression Hypoxia promotes cancer progression by regulating various aspects of cancer biology, including radiotherapy resistance, metabolism, angiogenesis and invasion/migration
M. Celeste Simon
angiogenesis biology cancer stem cell maintenance cancer-associated fibroblasts carcinoma cells glioblastoma multiforme hypoxia-inducible factors metabolism microRNAs tissue tumor progression