Summary VHL tumor suppressor loss results in hypoxia inducible factor-alpha (HIF-α) stabilization, and occurs in 70% of sporadic clear cell renal carcinomas (ccRCCs). To determine whether opposing influences of HIF-1α and HIF-2α on c-Myc activity regulate human ccRCC progression, we analyzed VHL genotype and HIF-α expression in 160 primary tumors, which segregated into three groups with distinct molecular characteristics. Interestingly, ccRCCs with intact VHL, as well as pVHL-deficient, HIF-1α/HIF-2α expressing ccRCCs, exhibited enhanced Akt/mTOR and ERK/MAPK signaling. In contrast, pVHL-deficient ccRCCs expressing only HIF-2α displayed elevated c-Myc activity, resulting in enhanced proliferation and resistance to replication stress. These reproducible distinctions in ccRCC behavior delineate HIF-α effects on c-Myc in vivo and suggest molecular criteria for selecting targeted therapies. Significance Constitutive HIF activity is clearly associated with ccRCC tumorigenesis; however, the influence of individual HIF-α subunits on cell growth mechanisms in vivo is unknown. Few dominant oncogenic pathways have been identified within ccRCC, making it difficult to select optimal targeted therapies for patients, or to predict disease outcome, except by grade and stage. Cell culture experiments indicate that HIF-1α inhibits the c-Myc oncoprotein, whereas HIF-2α potentiates c-Myc transcriptional activity and cellular proliferation. The findings reported here indicate that HIF-1α and HIF-2α promote distinct oncogene activation in human ccRCCs, and reveal a critical role for HIF-2α and c-Myc in promoting genomic integrity. These results suggest that evaluating pVHL status and HIF-α expression may aid targeted therapy selection for human ccRCCs.

Cellular properties are influenced by complex factors inherent to their microenvironments. While oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) occurs in tumours because of rapid cell proliferation and aberrant blood vessel formation, embryonic cells develop in a naturally occurring hypoxic environment. Cells respond to hypoxia by stabilizing hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), which are traditionally viewed to function by altering cellular metabolism and blood vessel architecture. Recently, HIFs have been shown to modulate specific stem cell effectors, such as Notch, Wnt and Oct4 that control stem cell proliferation, differentiation and pluripotency. Direct molecular links have also been established between HIFs and critical cell signalling pathways such as cMyc and p53. These novel links suggest a new role for HIFs in stem cell and tumour regulation.

Sporadic clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of adult kidney cancer, is often associated with genomic copy number aberrations on chromosomes 3p and 5q. Aberrations on chromosome 3p are associated with inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene von-Hippel Lindau (VHL), which activates the hypoxia inducible factors HIF1α and HIF2α. In contrast, ccRCC genes on chromosome 5q remain to be defined. In this study, we performed an integrated analysis of high-density copy number and gene expression data for 54 sporadic ccRCC tumors that identified the secreted glycoprotein STC2 (stanniocalcin 2) and the proteoglycan VCAN (versican) as potential 5q oncogenes in ccRCC. In functional assays, STC2 and VCAN each promoted tumorigenesis by inhibiting cell death. Using the same approach, we also investigated the two VHL-deficient subtypes of ccRCC, which express both HIF1α and HIF2α (H1H2) or only HIF2α (H2). This analysis revealed a distinct pattern of genomic aberrations in each group, with the H1H2 group displaying, on average, a more aberrant genome than the H2 group. Together our findings provide a significant advance in understanding ccRCC by offering a molecular definition of two subtypes with distinct characteristics as well as two potential chromosome 5q oncogenes, the overexpression of which is sufficient to promote tumorigenesis by limiting cell death.