Background: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α), a component of HIF-1, is expressed in human tumors and renders cells able to survive and grow under hypoxic (low-oxygen) conditions. YC-1, 3-(5′-hydroxymethyl-2′-furyl)-1-benzylindazole, an agent developed for circulatory disorders that inhibits platelet aggregation and vascular contraction, inhibits HIF-1 activity in vitro. We tested whether YC-1 inhibits HIF-1 and tumor growth in vivo. Methods: Hep3B hepatoma, NCI-H87 stomach carcinoma, Caki-1 renal carcinoma, SiHa cervical carcinoma, and SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cells were grown as xenografts in immunodeficient mice (69 mice total). After the tumors were 100–150 mm³, mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of vehicle or YC-1 (30 μg/g) for 2 weeks. HIF-1α protein levels and vascularity in tumors were assessed by immunohistochemistry, and the expression of HIF-1-inducible genes (vascular endothelial growth factor, aldolase, and enolase) was assessed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: Compared with tumors from vehicle-treated mice, tumors from YC-1-treated mice were statistically significantly smaller (P<.01 for all comparisons), expressed lower levels of HIF-1α (P<.01 for all comparisons), were less vascularized (P<.01 for all comparisons), and expressed lower levels of HIF-1-inducible genes, regardless of tumor type. Conclusions: The inhibition of HIF-1α activity in tumors from YC-1-treated mice is associated with blocked angiogenesis and an inhibition of tumor growth. YC-1 has the potential to become the first antiangiogenic anticancer agent to target HIF-1α.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) is a transcription factor essential for cancer cell survival. The reprogramming of lipid metabolism has emerged as a hallmark of cancer, yet the relevance of HIF-1α to this process remains elusive. In this study, we profile HIF-1α-interacting proteins using proteomics analysis and identify fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) as a critical HIF-1α-binding partner. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, both FABP5 and HIF-1α are upregulated, and their expression levels are associated with poor prognosis. FABP5 enhances HIF-1α activity by promoting HIF-1α synthesis while disrupting FIH/HIF-1α interaction at the same time. Oleic-acid treatment activates the FABP5/HIF-1α axis, thereby promoting lipid accumulation and cell proliferation in HCC cells. Our results indicate that fatty-acid-induced FABP5 upregulation drives HCC progression through HIF-1-driven lipid metabolism reprogramming.

Bortezomib (PS-341), a proteasome inhibitor, has been examined clinically for the treatment of multiple myeloma and several solid tumors. Bortezomib directly induces tumor cell death and has also been reported to inhibit tumor adaptation to hypoxia by functionally inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). However, the mechanism underlying HIF-1 inhibition by bortezomib remains obscure. In the present study, we demonstrated that bortezomib attenuated the hypoxic induction of erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor at subnanomolar concentrations in multiple myeloma and liver cancer cell lines, regardless of cytotoxic concentrations of bortezomib. Bortezomib repressed HIF-1α activity by inhibiting the recruitment of p300 coactivator. Specifically, bortezomib targeted HIF-1α C-terminal transactivation domain (CAD) but not the CAD lacking Asn803, which is a hydroxylation site by the factor inhibiting HIF-1 (FIH). Accordingly, this effect of bortezomib on CAD was augmented by FIH expression and abolished by FIH knock-down. Furthermore, bortezomib stimulated the interaction between CAD and FIH under hypoxic conditions, and FIH inhibition reversed the suppressions of erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor by bortezomib. We propose that the mechanism underlying the inhibitory effects of bortezomib on tumor angiogenesis and hypoxic adaptation involves the repression of HIF-1α transcriptional activity by reinforcing the FIH-mediated inhibition of p300 recruitment.

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 plays a key role in tumor promotion by inducing ∼60 genes required for tumor adaptation to hypoxia; thus, it is viewed as a target for cancer therapy. For this reason, YC-1, which down-regulates HIF-1α and HIF-2α at the post-translational level, is being developed as a novel anticancer drug. We here found that YC-1 acts in a novel manner to inhibit HIF-1. In the Gal4 reporter system, which is not degraded by YC-1, YC-1 was found to significantly inactivate the COOH-terminal transactivation domain (CAD) of HIF-1α, whereas it failed to inactivate CAD(N803A) mutant. In coimmunoprecipitation assays, YC-1 stimulated factor inhibiting HIF (FIH) binding to CAD even in hypoxia, whereas it failed to increase the cellular levels of hydroxylated Asn⁸⁰³ of CAD. It was also found that YC-1 prevented p300 recruitment by CAD in mammalian two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation assays. The involvement of FIH in YC-1-induced CAD inactivation was confirmed in EPO-enhancer and Gal4 reporter systems using FIH small interfering RNA and dimethyloxalylglycine FIH inhibitor. Indeed, FIH inhibition rescued HIF target gene expressions repressed by YC-1. In cancer cell lines other than Hep3B, YC-1 inhibits HIF-1α via the FIH-dependent CAD inactivation as well as via the protein down-regulation. Given these results, we suggest that the functional inactivation of HIF-α contributes to the YC-1-induced deregulation of hypoxia-induced genes. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(12):3729–38]