» Articles » PMID: 38424512

Role of Hippo Pathway Dysregulation from Gastrointestinal Premalignant Lesions to Cancer

Abstract

Background: First identified in Drosophila melanogaster, the Hippo pathway is considered a major regulatory cascade controlling tissue homeostasis and organ development. Hippo signaling components include kinases whose activity regulates YAP and TAZ final effectors. In response to upstream stimuli, YAP and TAZ control transcriptional programs involved in cell proliferation, cytoskeletal reorganization and stemness.

Main Text: While fine tuning of Hippo cascade components is essential for maintaining the balance between proliferative and non-proliferative signals, pathway signaling is frequently dysregulated in gastrointestinal cancers. Also, YAP/TAZ aberrant activation has been described in conditions characterized by chronic inflammation that precede cancer development, suggesting a role of Hippo effectors in triggering carcinogenesis. In this review, we summarize the architecture of the Hippo pathway and discuss the involvement of signaling cascade unbalances in premalignant lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, providing a focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Conclusions: The biology of premalignant Hippo signaling dysregulation needs further investigation in order to elucidate the evolutionary trajectories triggering cancer inititation and develop effective early therapeutic strategies targeting the Hippo/YAP pathway.

Citing Articles

miR-301a-mediated crosstalk between the Hedgehog and HIPPO/YAP signaling pathways promotes pancreatic cancer.

Qi B, Wang Y, Zhu X, Gong Y, Jin J, Wu H Cancer Biol Ther. 2025; 26(1):2457761.

PMID: 39846248 PMC: 11760222. DOI: 10.1080/15384047.2025.2457761.


Doublecortin-like kinase 1 promotes stem cell-like properties through the Hippo-YAP pathway in prostate cancer.

Jiang D, Li J, Ma H, Yan B, Lei H Int J Med Sci. 2025; 22(2):460-472.

PMID: 39781521 PMC: 11704687. DOI: 10.7150/ijms.99062.


The plasticity of epithelial cells and its potential in the induced differentiation of gastric cancer.

Yan Z, Liu Y, Yuan Y Cell Death Discov. 2024; 10(1):512.

PMID: 39719478 PMC: 11668900. DOI: 10.1038/s41420-024-02275-x.


Correction to: Role of Hippo pathway dysregulation from gastrointestinal premalignant lesions to cancer.

Schiavoni G, Messina B, Scalera S, Memeo L, Colarossi C, Mare M J Transl Med. 2024; 22(1):420.

PMID: 38702720 PMC: 11067124. DOI: 10.1186/s12967-024-05161-3.

References
1.
Piccolo S, Cordenonsi M, Dupont S . Molecular pathways: YAP and TAZ take center stage in organ growth and tumorigenesis. Clin Cancer Res. 2013; 19(18):4925-30. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-3172. View

2.
Justice R, Zilian O, Woods D, Noll M, Bryant P . The Drosophila tumor suppressor gene warts encodes a homolog of human myotonic dystrophy kinase and is required for the control of cell shape and proliferation. Genes Dev. 1995; 9(5):534-46. DOI: 10.1101/gad.9.5.534. View

3.
Pantalacci S, Tapon N, Leopold P . The Salvador partner Hippo promotes apoptosis and cell-cycle exit in Drosophila. Nat Cell Biol. 2003; 5(10):921-7. DOI: 10.1038/ncb1051. View

4.
Harvey K, Tapon N . The Salvador-Warts-Hippo pathway - an emerging tumour-suppressor network. Nat Rev Cancer. 2007; 7(3):182-91. DOI: 10.1038/nrc2070. View

5.
Lamar J, Stern P, Liu H, Schindler J, Jiang Z, Hynes R . The Hippo pathway target, YAP, promotes metastasis through its TEAD-interaction domain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012; 109(37):E2441-50. PMC: 3443162. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1212021109. View