Hypoxia signalling is upregulated in cell-line and in murine macrophage models of bacterial infection, and HIF-1α overexpression is known to upregulate the antimicrobial activities of leukocytes, including phagocytosis, bacterial killing and leukocyte lifespan (Peyssonnaux et al., 2005; Walmsley et al., 2006; Zarember and Malech, 2005). This evidence concerns the gene HIF1A and bacterial infectious disease.