Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and its regulation in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Pancreatic malignancy is a highly metastatic disease with a poor prognosis and extremely low overall survival rates. Despite recent advancements in the traditional chemopreventive approaches for pancreatic cancer (PC), there has been very little improvement in the overall survival rates for patients (Guilford JM, Pezzuto JM, Expert Opin Investig Drugs 17: 1341-1352, 2008). Therefore, novel phytochemicals such as curcumin and genistein have emerged as promising targets in developing treatment options for patients with PC. Curcumin is a natural compound found in turmeric (Kunnumakkara AB, Guha S, Krishnan S et al, Cancer Res 67: 3853-3861, 2007), and genistein is an isoflavone found in soybeans (Banerjee S, Zhang Y, Ali S et al, Cancer Res 65: 9064-9072, 2005). Both compounds are known to possess outstanding anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties.