HIF1A and neoplasm: To date several studies have identified the PI3K/AKT pathway as an important element in hypoxic induction of HIF-1α protein and activity in tumor cell lines [9,11,35,36] Also, in non malignant systems such as developing rat brain or pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells PI3K/Akt pathway is involved in activation of HIF-1α [21,37,38].