Roles of Hippo signaling in lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world, with more than 1 million deaths/year. Over the past years, lung cancer treatment has been based on cytotoxic agents and an improvement in the outcome and quality of life for patients has been observed. However, it has become clear that additional therapeutic strategies are urgently required to provide an improved survival benefit for patients. A major intracellular signaling pathway, the Hippo signaling pathways have been extensively studied in neoplasia, including lung cancer. Furthermore, the study of constitutively activated receptor and their downstream signaling mediators has become a promising new field of investigation for lung cancer treatment. Nevertheless for lung cancer, this approach has not been successful yet. Here, we will review the molecular basis of Hippo signaling in lung cancer and further discuss the therapeutic potential of multi-targeted strategies involving Yes-associated protein inhibitors.