Molecular Pathways: A Novel Approach to Targeting Hypoxia and Improving Radiotherapy Efficacy via Reduction in Oxygen Demand.
Tumor hypoxia presents a unique therapeutic challenge in the treatment of solid malignancies. Its presence has been established to be a poor prognostic factor in multiple cancer types, and past hypoxia-directed approaches have yielded generally disappointing results. Previous approaches have centered on either increasing oxygen delivery or administering agents that preferentially radiosensitize or kill hypoxic cells. However, a novel and potentially more effective method may be to increase therapeutic benefit by decreasing tumor oxygen consumption via agents such as metformin or nelfinavir in a patient population that is enriched for tumor hypoxia. This promising approach is currently being investigated in clinical trials and the subject of this article.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. alexander.lin@uphs.upenn.edu.
Alexander
A
Lin
Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Amit
A
Maity
D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*
D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents