The Salvador-Warts-Hippo (SWH) pathway is an important regulator of tissue growth that is frequently subverted in human cancer. The key oncoprotein of the SWH pathway is the transcriptional co-activator, Yes-associated protein (YAP). YAP promotes tissue growth and transformation of cultured cells by interacting with transcriptional regulatory proteins via its WW domains, or, in the case of the ...

Early dissemination, metastasis and therapy resistance are central hallmarks of aggressive cancer types and the leading cause of cancer-associated deaths. The EMT-inducing transcriptional repressor ZEB1 is a crucial stimulator of these processes, particularly by coupling the activation of cellular motility with stemness and survival properties. ZEB1 expression is associated with aggressive beha...

The Hippo/YAP signaling pathway is a crucial regulator of tissue growth, stem cell activity, and tumorigenesis. However, the mechanism by which YAP controls transcription remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we utilize global chromatin occupancy analyses to demonstrate that robust YAP binding is restricted to a relatively small number of distal regulatory elements in the genome. YAP occupancy ...

Yes associated protein (YAP) is an intrinsically disordered protein that plays a major role in the Hippo pathway, regulating organ size, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and is associated with cancer development. Therefore, the binding between YAP and TEAD is an interesting target for cancer therapy. The TEAD binding domain of YAP was mapped to protein residues 50-171. To obtain further structura...

In mammals, skin begins as a single-layered epithelium, which, through a series of signals, either stratifies and differentiates to become epidermis or invaginates downward to make hair follicles (HFs). To achieve and maintain proper tissue architecture, keratinocytes must intricately balance growth and differentiation. Here, we uncover a critical and hitherto unappreciated role for Yes-associa...

Transcriptional co-activator Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a key oncogene in mammalian cells. The present understanding of YAP in oral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC) remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of YAP on proliferation and apoptosis in OSCC and the molecular mechanism. The results showed the expression level of YAP was higher in OSCC tissues than t...

BACKGROUND Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a transcriptional co-activator and regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis. We investigated the clinical and biological significance of YAP in endometrial cancer (EMCA). METHODS YAP expression in 150 primary tumor tissues from patients with EMCA was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and its association with clinicopathological data was assessed. T...

Targeted therapies are considered to be the future of cancer treatment. However, the mechanism through which intracellular signaling pathways coordinate to modulate oncogenesis remains to be elucidated. In this study, we describe a novel crosstalk among ERK, AKT and Hippo-YAP pathways, with CD44 as an upstream regulator. High cell density leads to activation of ERK and AKT but inactivation of Y...

The Hippo-YAP pathway is a central regulator of cell contact inhibition, proliferation and death. There are conflicting reports regarding the role of Angiomotin (Amot) in regulating this pathway. While some studies suggest a YAP-inhibitory function other studies indicate Amot is required for YAP activity. Here, we describe an Amot-dependent complex comprised of Amot, YAP and Merlin. The phospho...

The transcriptional co-activator Yes-associated protein, YAP, is a main effector in the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway. We recently defined a mechanism for positive regulation of YAP through CDK1-mediated mitotic phosphorylation. Here, we show that active YAP promotes pancreatic cancer cell migration, invasion and anchorage-independent growth in a mitotic phosphorylation-dependent manner. Mitot...