Hedgehog Signaling in Cancer: A Prospective Therapeutic Target for Eradicating Cancer Stem Cells

The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a signaling cascade that plays a crucial role in many fundamental processes, including embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. Moreover, emerging evidence has suggested that aberrant activation of Hh is associated with neoplastic transformations, malignant tumors,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2018-11, Vol.7 (11), p.208
Main Authors: Sari, Ita Novita, Phi, Lan Thi Hanh, Jun, Nayoung, Wijaya, Yoseph Toni, Lee, Sanghyun, Kwon, Hyog Young
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Binding sites
Cancer
cancer stem cells
cancer therapy
Cell proliferation
Chemoresistance
Drug resistance
Embryogenesis
Gene amplification
Hedgehog protein
Hedgehog signaling pathway
Homeostasis
Insects
Kinases
Ligands
Malignancy
Mammals
Metastases
Mutation
Physiology
Proteins
Review
Signal transduction
Stem cells
Transcription factors
Tumorigenesis
Vertebrates
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Summary:The Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a signaling cascade that plays a crucial role in many fundamental processes, including embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. Moreover, emerging evidence has suggested that aberrant activation of Hh is associated with neoplastic transformations, malignant tumors, and drug resistance of a multitude of cancers. At the molecular level, it has been shown that Hh signaling drives the progression of cancers by regulating cancer cell proliferation, malignancy, metastasis, and the expansion of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Thus, a comprehensive understanding of Hh signaling during tumorigenesis and development of chemoresistance is necessary in order to identify potential therapeutic strategies to target various human cancers and their relapse. In this review, we discuss the molecular basis of the Hh signaling pathway and its abnormal activation in several types of human cancers. We also highlight the clinical development of Hh signaling inhibitors for cancer therapy as well as CSC-targeted therapy.
ISSN:2073-4409
2073-4409
DOI:10.3390/cells7110208