TY  - JOUR
A1  - Didiasova, Miroslava
A1  - Schäfer, Liliana
A1  - Wygrecka, Malgorzata
T1  - Targeting GLI transcription factors in cancer
T2  - Molecules
N2  - Aberrant activation of hedgehog (Hh) signaling has been observed in a wide variety of tumors and accounts for more than 25% of human cancer deaths. Inhibitors targeting the Hh signal transducer Smoothened (SMO) are widely used and display a good initial efficacy in patients suffering from basal cell carcinoma (BCC); however, a large number of patients relapse. Though SMO mutations may explain acquired therapy resistance, a growing body of evidence suggests that the non-canonical, SMO-independent activation of the Hh pathway in BCC patients can also account for this adverse effect. In this review, we highlight the importance of glioma-associated oncogene (GLI) transcription factors (the main downstream effectors of the canonical and the non-canonical Hh cascade) and their putative role in the regulation of multiple oncogenic signaling pathways. Moreover, we discuss the contribution of the Hh signaling to malignant transformation and propose GLIs as central hubs in tumor signaling networks and thus attractive molecular targets in anti-cancer therapies.
KW  - cancer
KW  - glioma-associated oncogene homolog
KW  - hedgehog signaling
KW  - GLI inhibitors
KW  - cancer stem cells
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/47050
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-470503
SN  - 1420-3049
N1  - This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
VL  - 23
IS  - 5, Art. 1003
SP  - 1
EP  - 19
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -