%0 Journal Article %A SONIA E. TROJAN %A MONIKA PIWOWAR %A BARBARA OSTROWSKA %A PIOTR LAIDLER %A KINGA A. KOCEMBA-PILARCZYK %T Analysis of Malignant Melanoma Cell Lines Exposed to Hypoxia Reveals the Importance of PFKFB4 Overexpression for Disease Progression %D 2018 %R 10.21873/anticanres.13044 %J Anticancer Research %P 6745-6752 %V 38 %N 12 %X Background/Aim: Most melanomas develop in hypoxic conditions. Since hypoxia via HIF-1 induces glycolysis, a process essential for malignant melanoma growth/survival, the goal of this study was to analyze the influence of hypoxia on the expression of HIF-1 target genes involved in glucose metabolism. Materials and Methods: The response of melanoma cell lines to hypoxic conditions was analyzed by RT-PCR and western blotting. A Kaplan–Meier survival analysis for patients with high and low expression level of PFKFB4 was performed. Further analysis of patients' data was performed using the R/Bioconductor environment. Results: Induction of PFKFB4 gene expression can be considered a crucial mechanism behind glycolysis enhancement in hypoxic melanoma cells. Analysis of a publicly available database revealed that high PFKFB4 expression contributes to poor prognosis of melanoma patients. Conclusion: Currently available anti-melanoma therapeutic strategies may significantly benefit from agents targeting PFKFB4 activity. %U https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/anticanres/38/12/6745.full.pdf