Evaluation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 and 2 alpha inhibitory compounds in the oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer

Hypoxia in the tumor environment leads to an activation of genotypes that favors the tumor, promoting angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cell invasion, and metastasis. It is considered a prognostic factor related to the progression and aggressiveness of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC). Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is the main gene activated by hypoxia and has been associated with tumor advancement. Thus, this work aims to evaluate the performance of the compounds Acriflavine, Resveratrol, Topotecan, and RNA interference (siRNA) as HIF inhibitors as well as a therapeutic approach. Molecular docking results have suggested that the evaluated compounds present potential interactions with HIF-1α and HIF-2α. In vitro analysis, they demonstrated that treatments with Acriflavine and Topotecan caused a decrease in the gene expression of HIFs in the HN13 cell line (carcinoma of the oral cavity). Furthermore, treatments performed with siRNAs effectively inhibited gene expression of HIFs in HN13 and FaDu (carcinoma of the pharynx) cell lines. Considering the role of hypoxia and HIFs in tumor aggressiveness; the present study shows the potential of the evaluated compounds as a therapeutic use for the prevention of tumor progression in head and neck cancer.