
It’s known that cancer involves unchecked cell growth and that a pathway that regulates the size of organs, known as Hippo, is also involved in cancer. It’s further known that a major player in this pathway, YAP, drives many types of tumors. What’s been lacking is how to turn this knowledge into a practical cancer treatment. In a study published today in Nature Communications, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital identify a target downstream of YAP, called NUAK2, and show that it can readily be inactivated with a small molecule.
“The Hippo pathway, and especially YAP, has been hard to target with drugs,” says senior study author Fernando Camargo, PhD, of Boston Children’s Stem Cell Research program. “This is the first demonstration of a ‘druggable’ molecule that could be targeted in any type of tumor driven by YAP.” …