Role of Hypoxia in Cancer Stem Cell Characteristics

Twenty-five per cent of deaths in India are caused by cancer, and the number of incidences increases due to population growth, prolonged life expectancy, and an abundance of risk factors including smoking, a lack of activity, and obesity [ 1 ]. A common of most tumours is a low level of oxygen, called hypoxia, the severity of which varies between tumour types. It has been shown that the lack of efficient oxygenation within the tumour centre induces hypoxia and hypoxia-related factors, which correlate with tumour progression [ 2 ]. Hypoxia is one of the most common features of solid tumours and is a key link in the tumour microenvironment. During hypoxia, tumour cells tend to be more prone to proliferation, metastasis, drug resistance, and poor prognosis [ 2 , 3 ].