The Regulation and Function of Hippo/ YAP Pathway in Cancer

The Hippo/YAP signaling pathway is a key regulatory network that governs organ size, tissue homeostasis, cell proliferation, and cell polarity. Aberrant Hippo/YAP signaling contributes to the initiation and progression of multiple cancers, making this pathway an attractive therapeutic target. Although several agents targeting Hippo/YAP have shown promise in preclinical models, clinical translation has been limited. These challenges likely stem from an incomplete understanding of the upstream regulators, downstream effectors, pathway crosstalk, and context-dependent roles of Hippo/YAP across different tumor types. Continued mechanistic investigation is required to clarify these complexities and reveal new therapeutic vulnerabilities. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the core components of the Hippo/YAP pathway, its regulatory mechanisms and interactions with other signaling cascades, its dysregulation in cancer, the involvement of microRNAs and lncRNAs in pathway modulation, and emerging therapeutic strategies targeting Hippo/YAP.