Oxygen homeostasis is needed for respiration and survival of mammalian cells
and organisms. During conditions of hypoxia, cells activate the genes that help the adaptive
response and the supply of oxygen to tissues. The hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) as one
of the critical transcription factors of hypoxia, may contribute to the maintenance of stem
cells to show the self-renewal indefinitely, and express stemness genes in hypoxic stress
environments (stem cell niches). Stem cells such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) decrease mitochondrial number and its activity, and
induce anaerobic glycolysis under the hypoxia condition. Such a metabolic switch takes
place in the early stage of the reprogramming process, and HIFs are necessary for this
metabolic change. The similar hypoxic control is also evident in cancers. This chapter
discusses the current knowledge about the role of oxidative and hypoxic stress in the cellreprogramming
process and the implications of hypoxic regulation and ROS homeostasis
in cancer progression and pluripotent stem cells.
Keywords: Antioxidation, Cancer, Cancer stem cells, HIF family, Hypoxia,
Induced pluripotent stem cells, Mitochondria, Reprogramming, ROS,
Stemness factors, Tumorigenesis.