A More Effective Tumour Inhibiting Protein

Associated with aggressiveness in some of the most common types of cancer, HIF (the hypoxia-inducible factor) is produced by cells in tumors, in their regions that have low levels of oxygen and are said to be hypoxic due to poor and disorganized blood supplies and enables tumoral growth. It is degraded by the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) protein, under normal conditions. VHL is deactivated when oxygen levels are low and it is ineffective in hypoxic regions, where is needed the most in order to inhibit cancer.

A research led by Professor Michael Ohh of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada, succeed in creating a version of VHL that it’s not dependent of a certain oxygen level, which proved effective in causing tumors to regress and limiting the formation of new blood vessels within them by reducing HIF levels in mice that had kidney tumors. According to Ohh, kidney cancer was used as a model because it is one of the most resistant tumors to conventional radiation and chemotherapy and the bio-engineered VHL reduced HIF levels in poorly oxygenated blood to levels similar of those found in normal oxygen conditions.

By permitting VHL unrestricted destruction of HIF, these findings could prove a very powerful weapon against prostate, breast, colon or lung cancer.