The inside of a tumor often contains a hypoxic area caused by a limited supply of molecular oxygen due to aberrant vasculature. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are major transcription factors that are required for cancer cells to adapt to such stress conditions. HIFs, complexed with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator, bind to and activate target genes as enhancers of transcription. In addition to this common mechanism, the induction of the unfolded protein response and mTOR signaling in response to endoplasmic reticulum stress is also known to be involved in the adaptation to hypoxia conditions. Sp1 is a ubiquitously-expressed transcription factor that plays a vital role in the regulation of numerous genes required for normal cell function. In addition to the well-characterized stress response mechanisms described above, increasing experimental evidence suggests that Sp1 and HIFs collaborate to drive gene expression in cancer cells in response to hypoxia, thereby regulating additional adaptive responses to cellular oxygen deficiency. However, these characteristics of Sp1 and their biological merits have not been summarized. In this review, we will discuss the diverse mechanisms of transcriptional regulation by Sp1 and their potential involvement in the adaptive response of cancer cells to hypoxic tumor microenvironments.
Keywords: Sp1; cancer; hypoxia; transcriptional regulation.