title: Hypoxic tumor microenvironment: Opportunities to develop targeted therapies.
abstract: In recent years, there has been great progress in the understanding of tumor biology and its surrounding microenvironment. Solid tumors create regions with low oxygen levels, generally termed as hypoxic regions. These hypoxic areas offer a tremendous opportunity to develop targeted therapies. Hypoxia is not a random by-product of the cellular milieu due to uncontrolled tumor growth; rather it is a constantly evolving participant in overall tumor growth and fate. This article reviews current trends and recent advances in drug therapies and delivery systems targeting hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment. In the first part, we give an account of important physicochemical changes and signaling pathways activated in the hypoxic microenvironment. This is then followed by various treatment strategies including hypoxia-sensitive signaling pathways and approaches to develop hypoxia-targeted drug delivery systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, United States.
authors.forename: Akhil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States; McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States. Electronic address: shs149@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Shilpa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sant
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D000072258:Tumor Hypoxia; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: HIF-1; Hypoxia; Physicochemical change; Solid tumor microenvironment; Targeted therapy; pH targeted