Hypoxia within solid tumors resulting from increased oxygen consumption and abnormal vascularization limits the effectiveness of cancer therapies. This image depicts the oxygen gradient of a hypoxic tumor growing in a vascularized bed interjacent of arterial and venous nodes. Here, the tumor has altered the vasculature, reducing venular oxygen transport. Using these models of vascular oxygen transport, Belcher et al explored how the tumor oxygenation potential of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) can differ between mice and humans. Specifically, they estimated which clinically measurable properties of the tumor may help translate HBOC facilitated tumor oxygenation from murine models to the clinic.

Image Credit: Donald Belcher, The Ohio State University