HIF1A and bacterial meningitis: For example, a study by Dong et al., indicated that, by targeting HIF-1α, miR-135a downregulated pro-apoptotic genes Bax and Bad, upregulated anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2, resulting in increased proliferation and reduced apoptosis of astrocytes in the bacterial meningitis rat models (Dong et al., 2019).