2. Academic Validation
  3. A peptide mimicking VGLL4 function acts as a YAP antagonist therapy against gastric cancer

A peptide mimicking VGLL4 function acts as a YAP antagonist therapy against gastric cancer

  • Cancer Cell. 2014 Feb 10;25(2):166-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2014.01.010.
Shi Jiao 1,  Huizhen Wang 1,  Zhubing Shi 1,  Aimei Dong 2,  Wenjing Zhang 1,  Xiaomin Song 1,  Feng He 1,  Yicui Wang 1,  Zhenzhen Zhang 1,  Wenjia Wang 1,  Xin Wang 1,  Tong Guo 1,  Peixue Li 1,  Yun Zhao 1,  Hongbin Ji 3,  Lei Zhang 4,  Zhaocai Zhou 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 National Center for Protein Science Shanghai, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
  • 2 Department of Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, Nanjing Xiaguan Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210085, China.
  • 3 National Center for Protein Science Shanghai, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: hbji@sibcb.ac.cn.
  • 4 National Center for Protein Science Shanghai, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: rayzhang@sibcb.ac.cn.
  • 5 National Center for Protein Science Shanghai, State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: zczhou@sibcb.ac.cn.
PMID: 24525233 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2014.01.010
Abstract

The Hippo pathway has been implicated in suppressing tissue overgrowth and tumor formation by restricting the oncogenic activity of YAP. However, transcriptional regulators that inhibit YAP activity have not been well studied. Here, we uncover clinical importance for VGLL4 in gastric Cancer suppression and find that VGLL4 directly competes with YAP for binding TEADs. Importantly, VGLL4's tandem Tondu domains are not only essential but also sufficient for its inhibitory activity toward YAP. A peptide mimicking this function of VGLL4 potently suppressed tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that disruption of YAP-TEADs interaction by a VGLL4-mimicking peptide may be a promising therapeutic strategy against YAP-driven human cancers.

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