A potential role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) in esophageal cancer

Abstract

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a regulatory protein, mainly responsible for maintaining oxygen homeostasis in response to reduced oxygen concentration in cells and tissues. The protein is a heterodimer which consists of subunit HIF-α and HIF-β. It is an important transcription factor involved in the transcriptional regulation of many genes related to embryonic development, metabolism, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and response to radiation therapy, making it an important regulator in most cancer therapies. Esophageal cancer (EC) is not a well-studied and a poorly understood cancer. It is highly aggressive in nature with poor survival rate. Its mortality rate ranks sixth among all cancers. Overexpression studies of HIF-1 in correlation with other target gene expressions revealed its role in both upregulation and downregulation of certain molecules in particular cancer types. Considering all parameters, HIF-1 inhibitor could present a potential approach to cancer therapy. This chapter summarizes the potential roles of HIF-1α in cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis and future perspectives in targeting esophageal cancer for developing novel anticancer therapies.