Advances of Hypoxia and Lung Cancer

• Main Authors: Xuebing LI, Jiacong YOU, Qinghua ZHOU
• Format: Article
• Language: zho
• Published: Chinese Anti-Cancer Association; Chinese Antituberculosis Association 2013-04-01
• Series: Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer
• Subjects: Hypoxia; Lung neoplasms; Hypoxia inducible factor; Prolyl hydroxylase domain; Product of von Hippel-Lindau gene
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2013.04.08

Lung cancer is one of the malignant tumors with fastest growing rates in incidence and mortality in our country, also with largest threat to human health and life. However, the exact mechanisms underlying lung cancer development remain unclear. The microenvironment of tumor hypoxia was discovered in 1955, but hypoxia in lung cancer tissues had not been successfully detected till 2006. Further studies show that hypoxia not only functions through the resistance to radiotherapy, but also regulates lung cancer development, invasion, metastasis, chemotherapy resistance and prognosis through an important oncogene HIF (hypoxia inducible factor), with its regulators PHD (prolyl hydroxylase domain) and pVHL (product of von Hippel-Lindau gene). Therefore, hypoxia, HIF, PHD and pVHL should be considered as potential therapeutic targets for lung cancer pathogenesis and progression.