Hippo signaling: a hub of growth control, tumor suppression and pluripotency maintenance.
The molecular mechanisms of organ size control and regulation remain one of the major unsolved mysteries of development biology. Almost a decade ago, the discovery of the Hippo signaling pathway in Drosophila shed some light on this puzzling issue. The Hippo signaling pathway is highly conserved in both invertebrates and vertebrates, and plays critical roles in animal development. It controls organ size and growth by inhibiting cell proliferation and by promoting apoptosis. Malfunction of the Hippo signaling pathway leads to cancer development and tumorigenesis. Although the core of the signaling pathway is well understood, the upstream inputs and downstream transcriptional regulation are still obscure to us. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the mechanism and the function of the Hippo signaling pathway and compare its differences between flies and mammals. We underline the crosstalk between the Hippo signaling pathway and other signaling pathways, and the possible roles of the Hippo pathway in stem cell proliferation and self-renewal.
State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
Mengxin
M
Yin
Lei
L
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D009929:Organ Size / Q000235:genetics; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D000099317:Hippo Kinases
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C499474:hpo protein, Drosophila; D000099317:Hippo Kinases