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The emerging roles of YAP and TAZ in cancer

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 15, pages 73–79 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Yes-associated protein (YAP) and transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) are the major downstream effectors of the Hippo pathway, which regulates tissue homeostasis, organ size, regeneration and tumorigenesis. In this Progress article, we summarize the current understanding of the biological functions of YAP and TAZ, and how the regulation of these two proteins can be disrupted in cancer. We also highlight recent findings on their expanding role in cancer progression and describe the potential of these targets for therapeutic intervention.

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Figure 1: Regulation of YAP and TAZ.
Figure 2: Pathway crosstalks regulate YAP and TAZ.
Figure 3: Tumour suppressor role of YAP.

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Acknowledgements

The authors apologize to their colleagues whose work could not be cited owing to space limitations and the scope of a Progress article. The authors would like to thank all the members of the Guan laboratory for insightful discussions and critical comments. The work in the Guan laboratory was supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants (CA132809 and EY022611) to K.-L.G. T.M. is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad and by a grant from the Yasuda Medical Foundation. C.G.H. is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences.

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Author notes

  1. Toshiro Moroishi and Carsten Gram Hansen: T.M. and C.G.H. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Toshiro Moroishi, Carsten Gram Hansen & Kun-Liang Guan

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  1. Toshiro Moroishi
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Correspondence to Kun-Liang Guan.

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Moroishi, T., Hansen, C. & Guan, KL. The emerging roles of YAP and TAZ in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 15, 73–79 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3876

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