Investigating novel hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) regulatory pathways in cancer

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Cancer causes one in four of all deaths in the UK (Cancer Research UK) and is a disease of many diseases, each cancer type has a different genetic and biological profile. There is an unmet need for developing new therapeutic interventions that can be used to improve front-line treatments. A unifying feature found in cancers is hypoxia (low oxygen levels) Hypoxia leads to increased activation of hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs). Hypoxia and HIF activation is associated with treatment resistance and poor patient prognosis using front-line treatments (e.g. radiotherapy). While HIF itself is considered a challenging drug target, preventing HIF activation in cancer is an attractive strategy for the development of new anticancer agents. Thus elucidating the cellular processes underlying the regulation of HIF activity and HIF-mediated tumour progression are of particular interest therapeutically. The overall goal of the project will be to characterise novel HIF regulatory genes identified from a genetic screen.