“…Under normoxia, HIF-1α is continuously synthesized and its protein levels and transcriptional activity are finely regulated by different mechanisms . The most important regulatory system is proteolysis by different oxygen-dependent mechanisms including hydroxylation by prolyl-hydroxylases Stolze et al, 2006) that allows its ubiquitination and proteosomal degradation (Cockman et al, 2000). Once protein is stabilized, it dimerizes with the constitutively expressed HIF-1β subunit, leading to its translocation to the nucleus where it switches on a series of genes participating in compensatory mechanisms including regulation of angiogenesis (Forsythe et al, 1996), vasomotor control (Palmer et al, 1998), erythropoiesis (Wang and Semenza, 1993), iron metabolism (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2000), cell cycle control (Carmeliet et al, 1998) and energy metabolism (Ebert et al, 1995).…”