Oxygen-poor areas of tumors as cancer drug targets.

Hypoxia is a condition where an area of the body has a lower-than-normal level of oxygen. Almost every solid tumor has a hypoxic region.  Because hypoxic areasa are not supplied with blood, it difficult to administer effective treatment. The fact that hypoxia is so rare in normal tissue, however, offers an opportunity for specific therapy.

Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered that the compound ABT-737 triggers a pathway that ultimately leads to apoptosis (programmed cell death) in human colorectal carcinoma and small cell carcinoma. Hypoxia is essential for ABT-737-induced apoptosis, which guarantees that tumors will be the primary target.