Engaging the vascular component of the tumor response.
Recent research has shed new light on the critical role of tissue microvasculature in regulating the tumor response to radiation and drugs. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Moeller et al.(2005) demonstrate that HIF-1 activation during the course of fractionated radiotherapy initiates pleiotropic adaptive responses in both tumor cells and the microvascular network, radiosensitizing tumor cells but concomitantly conferring tumor radioresistance due to protection of the microvascular endothelium. HIF-1 thus serves as a legitimate target for differential modulation of tissue response to radiation.
Fuks
Zvi
Z
Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA.
Kolesnick
Richard
R
D002196:Capillaries / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D051793:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011836:Radiation Tolerance; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C497442:HIF1A protein, human; D051793:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors