VHL and cancer: Hypoxic microenvironments are a common feature of solid tumors14 and can arise due the proliferative status of cancer cells or an uneven vascular supply in tumor tissues.15 Cancer cells adapt to hypoxic environments by activating a number of hypoxia-related pathways, e.g., angiogenic proteins, proliferation, survival, and energy metabolism-related pathways.14 Hypoxia-inducible factors 1α and 2α (HIFα proteins) play a central role in these pathways.16 HIFα proteins are regulated by prolyl hydroxylase-domain enzyme (PHD) and degraded by Von Hippel-Lindau protein (pVHL) under normoxia.