A project has been recently initiated to conduct a systematic analysis of hypoxia responsive genes using RNAi. Several investigators are interested in examining the hypoxic response of cells. The biologic stimulus of anoxia could be introduced into cell lines including HeLa, 7860 Renal Cell CA or DU-145 (with or without drug intervention) following shRNA introduction as a means of dissecting components of the hypoxia pathway. To date we have analyzed siRNAs against the following hypoxia associated genes -HIF-1A, HIF1An-1 and HIF3A. Follow up validation and phenotypic analysis has begun. In addition, we have purchased through Open Biosystems shRNA clones corresponding to HIF1A, HIF2A, ARNT, HSPCA and VEGF). Following validation at an RNA level we will be in a position to both assess the efficiency with which shRNA clones from the CSHL are working and will be able to use this for small-scale functional analysis.
