Progress on hypoxia-inducible factor-3: Its structure, gene regulation and biological function (Review)

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors, which are commonly expressed in mammals, including humans. The HIFs consist of hypoxia-regulated a and oxygen-insensitive beta subunits, and are key regulators of gene expression during hypoxia in normal and solid tumor tissues. Three members of the HIF family, HIF-1 alpha, HIF-2 alpha, and HIF-3 alpha, are currently known. HIF-3 alpha differs from HIF-1 alpha and HIF-2 alpha in protein structure and regulation of gene expression. For a long time, HIF-3 alpha was considered as a negative mediator of HIF-regulated genes. HIF-3 has a transcriptional regulatory function, which negatively affects gene expression by competing with HIF-1 alpha and HIF-2 alpha in binding to transcriptional elements in target genes during hypoxia. Previously, certain target genes of HIF-3 alpha have been identified, confirming the role of HIF-3 alpha as a transcription factor. In this review, the protein structure, gene regulation and biological function of HIF-3 are discussed based on the literature.