Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most prevalent and lethal cancers with limited therapeutic options. Pathogenesis of this disease involves tumor hypoxia and the activation of hypoxia inducible factors. In this review, we describe the current understanding of hypoxia signaling pathway and summarize the expression, function and target genes of hypoxia inducible factors in hepatocellular carcinoma. We also highlight the recent progress in hypoxia-targeted therapeutic strategies in hepatocellular carcinoma and discuss further the future efforts for the study of hypoxia and/or hypoxia inducible factors in this deadly disease.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer (70%–90%)
We describe the current understanding of hypoxia signaling pathway and summarize the expression, function and target genes of hypoxia inducible factors in hepatocellular carcinoma
Combination of antisense HIF1α and B7-1-mediated immunotherapy led to a strong synergistic effect in inducing NK cell- and CD8 T cell-dependent rejection of larger EL-4 tumors (0.4 cm in diameter) [112], highlighting the promise of targeting hypoxia pathway together with cancer immunotherapy in HCC treatment
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer (70%–90%). As the 2nd leading cause of global cancer mortality, HCC endangers over 780,000 new patients per year [1]. We describe the current understanding of hypoxia signaling pathway and summarize the expression, function and target genes of hypoxia inducible factors in hepatocellular carcinoma. Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are critical to sense intratumoral oxygen tension and mediate subsequently the activation of hypoxia response, representing as potential anti-cancer targets [10].
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