Endocrine Abstracts

Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) is a master regulator of the transcriptional homeostatic response to oxygen deprivation. It was originally discovered in the context of regulation of erythropoietin gene expression, but subsequently shown to have a widespread role in coordinating gene expression in response to hypoxia. The pathways regulating the activity of HIF in normal tissue and cancers will be reviewed. Events leading to the development of phaeochromocytoma and other cancers will be discussed. A common feature of many genetic defects which predispose to phaeochromocytoma is that they influence the activity of the HIF pathway.