HIF1A and neoplasm: Cancer cells can dynamically adapt and reprogram their cellular identity in response to environmental cues, effectively blurring the distinction between NSCs, progenitor cells, and fully differentiated tumor cells.111 For example, under hypoxic stress, non-CSCs can acquire stem-like traits via the activation of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF-1α, HIF-2α), which regulate genes essential for metabolic adaptation and self-renewal.