YAP/TAZ Join the Play with β-catenin to Orchestrate Wnt Signaling

Noushin Nabavi
2014 Postdoc Journal  
For the purpose of studying Wnt signaling, the intestinal epithelium has been the most relevant biological tissue for its differential topology expression of Wnt signaling: active in all crypt cells (helping in proliferation, stemness, regeneration, and tissue homeostasis) and inactive in the villi cells. Interestingly though, YAP/TAZ regulation through Wnt signaling has been more controversial and the subject of this review. Recent work shows that Wnt signaling inactivates the cytoplasmic pool
more » ... of destruction complex through dissociating β-TrCP E3 ligase from the complex. Further, in addition to βcatenin, YAP and TAZ, two related proteins known for their roles in the Hippo signaling cascade, are two other pivotal regulators of cell proliferation and stemness during organ growth, regeneration, and tumorigenesis. The biological function of YAP/TAZ and β-catenin overlap to suggest that these factors are not completely independent of one another and may influence each other's activities.
doi:10.14304/surya.jpr.v2n11.4 fatcat:ackbnvf7azajjd4lfxz427fyxy