Hypoxia-induced activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase signaling pathways contributes to expression of interleukin 8 in human ovarian carcinoma cells.

Purpose: Overexpression of interleukin 8 (IL-8) is associated with disease progression in human ovarian cancer. Hypoxia, a common feature in solid tumors, induces IL-8 expression in human ovarian carcinoma cells through activation of nuclear factor-kappa B and activating protein-1. Here we show the upstream components of these signal transduction pathways that lead to IL-8 expression under hypoxia.