HIF in vascular development and tumour angiogenesis.

Hypoxia stimulates angiogenesis through the up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor and other angiogenic cytokines. Members of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) family of transcription factors play a central role in the cellular hypoxia response. To address the function of HIF signalling in physiological and pathological angiogenesis, we used a dominant-negative approach that interferes with the function of both HIF-1 and HIF-2.