The Hippo pathway is a critical transcriptional signaling pathway that regulates cell growth,\nproliferation and organ development. The transcriptional enhanced associate domain (TEAD) protein\nfamily consists of four paralogous transcription factors that function to modulate gene expression in\nresponse to the Hippo signaling pathway. Transcriptional activation of these proteins occurs upon\nbinding to the co-activator YAP/TAZ whose entry into the nucleus is regulated by Lats1/2 kinase.\nIn recent years, it has become apparent that the dysregulation and/or overexpression of Hippo\npathway effectors is implicated in a wide range of cancers, including prostate, gastric and liver cancer.\nA large body of work has been dedicated to understanding the therapeutic potential of modulating\nthe phosphorylation and localization of YAP/TAZ. However, YAP/TAZ are considered to be natively\nunfolded and may be intractable as drug targets. Therefore, TEAD proteins present themselves as\nan excellent therapeutic target for intervention of the Hippo pathway. This review summarizes the\nfunctional role of TEAD proteins in cancer and assesses the therapeutic potential of antagonizing\nTEAD function in vivo.
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