Background/aim: Most melanomas develop in hypoxic conditions. Since hypoxia via HIF-1 induces glycolysis, a process essential for malignant melanoma growth/survival, the goal of this study was to analyze the influence of hypoxia on the expression of HIF-1 target genes involved in glucose metabolism.
Materials and methods: The response of melanoma cell lines to hypoxic conditions was analyzed by RT-PCR and western blotting. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for patients with high and low expression level of PFKFB4 was performed. Further analysis of patients' data was performed using the R/Bioconductor environment.
Results: Induction of PFKFB4 gene expression can be considered a crucial mechanism behind glycolysis enhancement in hypoxic melanoma cells. Analysis of a publicly available database revealed that high PFKFB4 expression contributes to poor prognosis of melanoma patients.
Conclusion: Currently available anti-melanoma therapeutic strategies may significantly benefit from agents targeting PFKFB4 activity.
Keywords: HIF-1; Hypoxia; PFKFB4; malignant melanoma.
Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.