Hypoxia is prevalent in human tumours and contributes to microenvironments that shape cancer evolution and adversely affect therapeutic outcomes. Historically, two different tumour microenvironment (TME) research communities have been discernible. One has focused on physicochemical gradients of oxygen, pH and nutrients in the tumour interstitium, motivated in part by the barrier that hypoxia poses to effective radiotherapy. The other has focused on cellular interactions involving tumour and non-tumour cells within the TME. Over the past decade, strong links have been established between these two themes, providing new insights into fundamental aspects of tumour biology and presenting new strategies for addressing the effects of hypoxia and other microenvironmental features that arise from the inefficient microvascular system in solid tumours. This Review provides a perspective on advances at the interface between these two aspects of the TME, with a focus on translational therapeutic opportunities relating to the elimination and/or exploitation of tumour hypoxia.

缺氧在人类肿瘤中很普遍，并有助于塑造癌症进化的微环境并对治疗结果产生不利影响。从历史上看，两个不同的肿瘤微环境 (TME) 研究社区一直是可辨别的。一种关注于肿瘤间质中氧、pH 和营养物质的物理化学梯度，部分原因是缺氧对有效放疗造成的障碍。另一个侧重于涉及 TME 内肿瘤和非肿瘤细胞的细胞相互作用。在过去的十年中，这两个主题之间建立了牢固的联系，提供了对肿瘤生物学基本方面的新见解，并提出了解决缺氧和其他微环境特征的影响的新策略，这些影响是实体瘤中低效的微血管系统引起的。