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Solid tumors consist of malignant cells and associated stromal components, including fibroblastic cells that contribute to tumor growth and progression. Although tumor fibrosis and aberrant vascularization contribute to the hypoxia often found in advanced tumors, the contribution of hypoxic signaling within tumor-associated fibroblasts to tumorigenesis remains unknown. In this study, we used a fibroblast-specific promoter to create mice in which key hypoxia regulatory genes, including VHL HIF-1α, HIF-2α VEGF-A, were knocked out specifically in tumor stromal fibroblasts. We found that loss of HIF-1α and its target gene accelerated VEGF-A tumor growth in murine model of mammary cancer. HIF-1α and VEGF-A loss also led to a reduction in vascular density and myeloid cell infiltration, which correlated with improved tumor perfusion. Together, our findings indicate that the fibroblast HIF-1α response is a critical component of tumor vascularization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In mammals, hypoxia-triggered erythropoietin release increases red blood cell mass to meet tissue oxygen demands. Using male Wistar rats, we unmask a previously unrecognized regulatory pathway of erythropoiesis involving suppressor control by the NO metabolite and ubiquitous dietary component nitrate. We find that circulating hemoglobin levels are modulated by nitrate at concentrations achievable by dietary intervention under normoxic and hypoxic conditions; a moderate dose of nitrate administered via the drinking water (7 mg NaNO3/kg body weight/d) lowered hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit after 6 d compared with nonsupplemented/NaCl-supplemented controls. The underlying mechanism is suppression of hepatic erythropoietin expression associated with the downregulation of tissue hypoxia markers, suggesting increased pO2. At higher nitrate doses, however, a partial reversal of this effect occurred; this was accompanied by increased renal erythropoietin expression and stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factors, likely brought about by the relative anemia. Thus, hepatic and renal hypoxia-sensing pathways act in concert to modulate hemoglobin in response to nitrate, converging at an optimal minimal hemoglobin concentration appropriate to the environmental/physiologic situation. Suppression of hepatic erythropoietin expression by nitrate may thus act to decrease blood viscosity while matching oxygen supply to demand, whereas renal oxygen sensing could act as a brake, averting a potentially detrimental fall in hematocrit., (© FASEB.)