- Details
-
Created: Friday, 10 February 2017 10:08
Dr Don Whitley, chairman and founder of DWS, recently visited The Francis Crick Institute in London to see the recently installed Whiltley H45 Hypoxystation at the site.
The Crick has moved into a brand new state-of-the-art building in the centre of London. Situated next to Kings Cross and St Pancreas stations, The Crick brings together 1500 scientists and staff working collaboratively in the biggest biomedical research facility under one roof in Europe. The work at The Crick covers many disciplines and applications in biomedical research, all with the aim of improving understanding of human health and disease.
Read more: Don Whitley Visits The Francis Crick Institute
- Details
-
Created: Thursday, 26 January 2017 11:32
“Tumor hypoxia and HIF’s affect most of the cancer hallmarks … and contribute to chemo- and radiotherapy resistance.” In their review from 2016, Wigerup, Pahlman and Bexell of Lund University in Sweden discuss how hypoxia inducible factors HIF’s regulate the hypoxic microenvironment in cancer, and the therapeutic strategies that are being developed to improve patients’ prognosis. Dr. Sven Pahlman’s lab has been using the H35 HypOxystation for more than 5 years now, to research SCLC and neuroblastoma, and their data is contributing to the understanding of the role of oxygen levels in the progression of cancer.
Hypoxia and HIF-1α and 2α expression in cancer usually signify a worse prognosis, but most hypoxia-induced transcriptional, translational, and epigenetic changes are cell-type specific. Many effects engendered by hypoxia are mediated directly or indirectly via HIF pathways, and most are causative of the iconic “Hallmarks of Cancer” that Hanahan and Weinberg introduced in 2000 and expanded in 2011. Hypoxia induces increased autophagy, apoptosis, and aberrant cell proliferation; neoangiogenesis mediated by VEGF and PDGF-β; proliferation of cancer stem cells; metabolic reprogramming to satisfy energy and synthetic requirements in proliferating cells; modulation of inflammation and immune responses; genomic instability through increased mutagenesis and diminished DNA repair; and metastasis as hypoxia induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and degradation of the extracellular matrix. Assaying the relationship between hypoxia and the Hallmarks of Cancer benefits significantly from the physiological atmosphere mimicked in the HypOxystation, a closed-culture hypoxia workstation controlling gasses, temperature and humidity.
Read more: Therapeutic Targeting of Hypoxia and HIF's in Cancer