Abstract.
The highly conserved Notch signaling pathway plays pleiotropic roles during embryonic development and is important for the regulation of selfrenewing tissues. The physiological functions of this signaling cascade range from stem cell maintenance and influencing cell fate decisions of barely differentiated progenitor cells, to the induction of terminal differentiation processes, all of which have been found to be recapitulated in different forms of cancers. Although Notch signaling has mostly been associated with oncogenic and growth-promoting roles, depending on the tissue type it can also function as a tumor suppressor. Here we describe recent findings on Notch signaling in cancer and tumor angiogenesis, and highlight some of the therapeutic approaches that are currently being developed to interfere with tumor growth and progression.
Keywords. Notch signaling, oncogene, tumor suppressor, cancer, therapy
Footnotes
Received 2 April 2007; received after revision 29 June 2007; accepted 2 July 2007
Change history
3/21/2008
An Erratum to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s00018-008-8000-y