Genetic manipulation of HIF-1α in classical animal models of inflammation and neurodegeneration, including sepsis (Peyssonnaux et al., 2007; Thiel et al., 2007), rheumatoid arthritis and chronic cutaneous inflammation (Cramer et al., 2003) and stroke (Baranova et al., 2007) have shown that HIF-1α exerts a profound influence on disease progression. This evidence concerns the gene HIF1A and rheumatoid arthritis.