New insight into hedgehog signaling in hematological malignancies

Abstract

The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is well established as being evolutionarily conserved across vertebrates, and is involved in organogenesis, hematopoiesis, embryogenesis and homeostasis of adult tissues. At a microscopic level, the Hh signaling pathway controls the proliferation, apoptosis, cell-cycle and differentiation programs of stem and progenitor cells. Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant activation of the Hh signaling pathway is related to neoplasm, including solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Currently the Hh signaling pathway has become one of the most studied potential therapeutic targets in hematological malignancies. In this review, we focus on findings related to Hh signaling in the initiation, maintenance, progression and chemoresistance of hematological malignancies, looking forward to better targeted treatment strategies.

Keywords::

• Hedgehog signaling pathway
• hematological malignancy
• targeted therapy
• smoothened inhibitor

Acknowledgements

This study was partly supported by: National Natural Science Foundation (No. 81270598), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. Y2007C053, No. 2009ZRB14176 and No. ZR2012HZ003), Technology Development Projects of Shandong Province (No. 2007GG10 and No. 2010GSF10250), Program of Shandong Medical Leading Talent and Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province.

Potential conflict of interest:

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