The role of HIF-lalpha and hypoxia in the preferential response of prostate tumours to microtubule-targeting agents

Abstract

Tumour hypoxia is emerging as a common feature of prostate tumours associated with poor prognosis mainly due to their resistance to chemo- radiotherapy regimes. The efficacy of microtubule-targeting agents (MTAs) has recently been shown to be modulated by Hypoxia-Inducible-Factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α). HIF- 1α over expression has been reported to occur in almost 70% of all human tumours including prostate cancer.