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Review
. 2024 Jan 11;22(1):18.
doi: 10.1186/s12957-023-03284-3.

Tumor hypoxia and role of hypoxia-inducible factor in oral cancer

Pooja Singh  1 , Monika Rajput  2 , Manoj Pandey  2
Affiliations
Review

Tumor hypoxia and role of hypoxia-inducible factor in oral cancer

Pooja Singh et al. World J Surg Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is one of the most frequent malignancies in Asian males with a poor prognosis. Apart from well-known prognostic indicators, markers of tumor hypoxia can help us predict response to treatment and survival.

Methods: A review of the literature on the present evidence and potential clinical importance of tumor hypoxia in head and neck cancer was carried out. The data obtained from the literature search is presented as a narrative review.

Results: The literature shows possible associations between prognosis and low tumor oxygenation. Intermediate hypoxia biomarkers like HIF-1, GLUT-1, miRNA, and lactate, can help in predicting the response to therapy and survival as their altered expression is related to prognosis.

Conclusions: Hypoxia is common in HNC and can be detected by use of biomarkers. The tumors that show expression of hypoxia biomarkers have poor prognosis except for patients with human papilloma virus-associated or VHL-associated cancers. Therapeutic targeting of hypoxia is emerging; however, it is still in its nascent stage, with increasing clinical trials hypoxia is set to emerge as an attractive therapeutic target in HNC.

Keywords: Axitinib; Bevacizumab; Glucose metabolism; Hypoxia; Oral cancer; Pazopanib; Sunitinib; TP53; VEGF.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Hypoxia pathway in the presence of smoking, alcohol and HPV in HNSCC (Modified from Bredell MG, Ernst J, El-Kochairi I, Dahlem Y, Ikenberg K, Schumann DM. Current relevance of hypoxia in head and neck cancer. Oncotarget. 2016 Aug 2;7(31):50781-50804. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9549. PMID: 27434126; PMCID: PMC5226620. Open access CC By 4.0)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Causes and downstream pathway of hypoxia in HNSCC prognosis. (Modified and reproduced with permission from Kujan O, Shearston K, Farah CS. The role of hypoxia in oral cancer and potentially malignant disorders: a review. J Oral Pathol Med. 2017 Apr;46(4):246-252. doi: 10.1111/jop.12488. Epub 2016 Aug 25. PMID: 27560394
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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