Notch Signaling in Cancer

Notch signaling plays a key role in the normal development of many tissues and cell types, through diverse effects on differentiation, survival, and/or proliferation that are highly dependent on signal strength and cellular context. Because perturbations in the regulation of differentiation, surviva...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer biology & therapy 2002-09, Vol.1 (5), p.466-476
Main Authors: Allenspach, Eric J., Maillard, Ivan, Aster, Jon C., Pear, Warren S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Binding
Biology
Bioscience
Calcium
Cancer
Cell
Cell Transformation, Viral
Cycle
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Humans
Landes
Ligands
Membrane Proteins - metabolism
Models, Biological
Neoplasms - metabolism
Oncogenic Viruses - metabolism
Organogenesis
Proteins
Receptors, Notch
Signal Transduction
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Summary:Notch signaling plays a key role in the normal development of many tissues and cell types, through diverse effects on differentiation, survival, and/or proliferation that are highly dependent on signal strength and cellular context. Because perturbations in the regulation of differentiation, survival, and/or proliferation underlie malignant transformation, pathophysiologic Notch signals potentially contribute to cancer development in several different ways. Notch signaling was first linked to tumorigenesis through identification of a recurrent t(7;9)(q34;q34.3) chromosomal translocation involving the human Notch1 gene that is found in a small subset of human pre-T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL). 1 Since this discovery, aberrant Notch signaling has been suggested to be involved in a wide variety of human neoplasms. In this review, we will focus on recent studies linking aberrant Notch signaling with cancer. First, we discuss various mechanisms through which Notch signaling may influence cellular transformation. Then, we critically review literature pertaining to the role of Notch signaling in several cancers, and discuss possible therapeutic targets in the Notch pathway. Key Words: Notch, Cancer, Transformation, Development, Oncogene, Tumor suppressor
ISSN:1538-4047
1555-8576
DOI:10.4161/cbt.1.5.159