Role of Gli in Hedgehog signaling pathway and its prospect in anti-tumor therapy / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway was firstly discovered in the regulation of embryonic segments development in Drosophila; later, the biochemical and functional homologs of Drosophila HH signaling genes were also isolated in vertebrates (including human). Researchers found that HH signaling not only controls the embryonic development, but also plays an important role in tumorigenesis. Gli, a zinc finger transcription factor in the vertebral HH signaling pathway, combines to the special sequences of distal HH targeted genes and directly controls the transcription of targeted genes, playing a key role in HH signaling pathway. In this article, we summarize the role of Gli in HH signaling pathway and its prospect in cancer therapy.