While under normoxic conditions the expression of glycolysis-related genes showed no correlation with origin or BRAF mutation status, GLUT1 expression was significantly elevated in metastatic and BRAF-V600E mutated melanoma cell lines under hypoxic conditions.
ETV1 expression is a rare event in human melanoma and seems to be rather based on hyperactivation of MAPK signals, by BRAF (V600E) mutation, than on ETV1 gene amplification.
Our data show for the first time that BRAF(V600E) mutation increases HIF-1alpha expression and melanoma cell survival under hypoxic conditions and suggest that effects of the oncogenic V600E BRAF mutation may be partially mediated through the HIF-1alpha pathway.