Hypoxia and oxidative stress in breast cancer - Tumour hypoxia - therapeutic considerations

Conclusive research has shown that regions of acute/chronic hypoxia, which exist within the majority of solid tumours, have a profound influence on th e therapeutic outcome of cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy and are a str ong prognostic factor of disease progression and survival. A strong argumen t therefore exists for assessing the hypoxic fraction of tumours, prior to patient treatment, and to tailor this treatment accordingly. Tumour hypoxia also provides a powerful physiological stimulus that can be exploited as a tumour-specific condition, allowing for the rationale design of hypoxia-ac tivated anticancer drugs or novel hypoxia-regulated gene therapy strategies .