Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is fundamentally important for development and adult tissue homeostasis. It is well established that in vertebrates Sufu directly binds and inhibits Gli proteins, the downstream mediators of Hh signaling. However, it is unclear how the inhibitory function of Sufu towards Gli is regulated. Here we report that the Rusc family of proteins, the biological functions of which ...

Glioma associated oncogene-1 (Gli-1) is considered as a strong positive activator of downstream target genes of hedgehog signal pathway in mammalians. However, its diagnostic and prognostic value in gastric cancer remains unclear and controversial. Therefore, a quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to determine the clinical value of Gli-1 in gastric cancer patients. Twelve eligible articles ...

doi: 10.1111/cas.12571 Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Prolonged exposure to the ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone increases the risk of breast cancer. Although estrogen is known as a primary factor in mammary carcinogenesis, very few studies have investigated the role of progesterone. Receptor activator for nuclear factor-jB (NF-jB) ligand (RANKL) pl...

BACKGROUND The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is known to play a critical role in various malignancies, but its clinicopathologic role in breast cancer is yet to be established. METHODS Tissue microarray blocks from 334 cases of breast cancer were prepared. The expression of six Hh signaling proteins including sonic hedgehog (Shh), patched (Ptch), smoothened (Smo), and the glioma-associated ...

Hedgehog (Hh) pathway activation and Gli-dependent transcription play critical roles in embryonic patterning, tissue homeostasis, and tumorigenesis. By conducting a genome-scale cDNA overexpression screen, we have identified the Rho GAP family member Arhgap36 as a positive regulator of the Hh pathway in vitro and in vivo. Arhgap36 acts in a Smoothened (Smo)-independent manner to inhibit Gli rep...

The protein synthetic machinery is activated by diverse genetic alterations during tumor progression in vivo and represents an attractive target for cancer therapy. We show that rapamycin inhibits the induction of transformed foci in vitro by GLI, a transcription factor that functions in the sonic hedgehog-patched pathway in tumors. In control cells, which were nontransformed epithelioid RK3E c...

The floor plate plays important roles in ventral pattern formation and axonal guidance within the neural tube of vertebrate embryos. A critical event for floor plate development is the induction of a winged helix transcription factor, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor-3beta (HNF-3beta). The enhancer for floor plate expression of HNF-3beta is located 3' of the transcription unit and consists of multiple...

The tumor suppressor protein Suppressor of fused (Sufu) plays a conserved role in the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway by inhibiting Cubitus interruptus (Ci)/Glioma-associated oncogene homolog (Gli) transcription factors, but the molecular mechanism by which Sufu inhibits Ci/Gli activity remains poorly understood. Here we show that Sufu can bind Ci/Gli through a C-terminal Sufu-interacting site ...

The Hedgehog-Gli (Hh-Gli) signaling pathway was examined in ovarian dermoids, which show characteristics of both tumors and developmental malformations. Dermoids are classified as mature teratomas that present differentiation into various tissues, mostly epidermal elements such as glands, multilayered epithelium, hair follicles and occasionally bone and cartilage. Their development is attribute...

To identify and analyse precursor cells of neuronal and glial cell lineages during the early development of the chick peripheral nervous system, monoclonal antibodies were raised against a population of undifferentiated cells of E6 dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Non-neuronal cells of E6 DRG express surface antigens that are recognized by four monoclonal antibodies, G1, G2, GLI 1 and GLI 2. The prop...