Targeting the Hippo pathway in heart repair
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Published on: September 13, 2018
Fansen Meng1, Bing Xie1, James F Martin1,2
1Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Insights
The Hippo pathway regulates organ size and is crucial for heart development and disease. Understanding its components, like LATS1/2 and YAP/TAZ, offers new therapeutic strategies for heart failure.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Cell Signaling
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- The Hippo pathway is a conserved signaling network controlling organ size through regulation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation.
- The Hippo pathway plays significant roles in cardiac development, homeostasis, disease, and regeneration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the function of the Hippo pathway in the heart.
- To highlight post-translational modifications of Hippo pathway components and their downstream effectors (YAP/TAZ) in cardiac research.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on Hippo pathway in cardiac contexts.
- Analysis of post-translational modifications of core kinases (LATS1/2) and effectors (YAP/TAZ).
Main Results:
- The Hippo pathway is integral to cardiac function and disease.
- Post-translational modifications of LATS1/2 and YAP/TAZ provide critical regulatory insights.
- These modifications influence cardiac development, homeostasis, and disease progression.
Conclusions:
- The Hippo pathway represents a promising therapeutic target for cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure.
- Further research into Hippo pathway modifications offers novel avenues for cardiac regenerative medicine.
Abstract:
The Hippo pathway is an evolutionarily and functionally conserved signalling pathway that controls organ size by regulating cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Emerging evidence has shown that the Hippo pathway plays critical roles in cardiac development, homeostasis, disease, and regeneration. Targeting the Hippo pathway has tremendous potential as a therapeutic strategy for treating intractable cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure. In this review, we summarize the function of the Hippo pathway in the heart. Particularly, we highlight the post-translational modification of Hippo pathway components, including the core kinases LATS1/2 and their downstream effectors YAP/TAZ, in different contexts, which has provided new insights and avenues in cardiac research.
