NDRG1 and neoplasm: These pharmacological NDRG1-inducing drugs are small molecular weight ligands that achieve this activity through their ability to bind tumor cell iron (33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 74), leading to the activation of the transcription factor, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α, which transactivates NDRG1 (17, 75).