To further validate the rapid emergence of hypoxia in HD monocyte cultures, we measured expression levels of HIF-1α, the master transcriptional regulator of cellular hypoxia [72], by Western blotting and confirmed enhanced HIF-1α protein accumulation in HD monocytes (Fig. 2g and Additional file 2: Fig. S2j-k). This evidence concerns the gene HIF1A and Huntington disease.