The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine prevents HIF-1 stabilization under hypoxia in vitro but does not affect tumorigenesis in multiple breast cancer models in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Intratumoral hypoxia is a poor prognostic factor associated with reduced disease-free survival in many cancer types, including breast cancer. Hypoxia encourages tumor cell proliferation, stimulates angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, and promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis. Tumor cells respond to a hypoxic state by stabilizing the Hif-1α subunit of the Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF) transcription factor to promote expression of various tumor- and metastasis-promoting hypoxic response genes. The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was recently shown to prevent Hif-1α stabilization under hypoxia, and has been identified as a potential alternative method to target the hypoxic response in tumors. We utilized three orthotopic syngeneic murine models of breast cancer, the Py

SUBMITTER: Sceneay J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3688768 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature