Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Activates YAP to Drive Malignant Progression and Immune Evasion.

ABSTRACT: Background: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is prevalent in human cancer and facilitates tumor metastasis and therapy resistance by enhancing cancer cell motility, invasiveness, survival, and immune evasion. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular changes during EMT remain largely elusive, making it challenging to simultaneously target these diverse malignant phenotypes. Results: Here, we show that the EMT-inducing ZEB transcription factors directly repressed WWC1 (also known as KIBRA), a key upstream activating component of the Hippo signaling pathway. The EMT program thus inherently downregulated WWC1, leading to impaired Hippo signaling and constitutive activation of the downstream effector and transcriptional coactivator YAP. The YAP-dependent tr

SUBMITTER: Huang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12427426 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature