BIOC 212 Lecture 86: Cancer XIII

Cancer cells often exhibit an increased reliance on glycolysis to provide energy. This is in part due to the observation that many cells are hypoxic (low oxygen tension in the cell). The lack of oxygen leads to an activation of a protein known as “Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α” (HIF1a). HIF1α is an oxygen-sensitive transcription factor that increases the expression of genes involved in glycolysis as well as genes like Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) that serve to promote increased vascularization of tumor tissue. (3 Points) Using your excellent research skills, identify 3 glycolysis-related genes whose expression is up- regulated in response to HIF1α activation (i.e., HIF1α target genes).