YAP1- and WWTR1 (TAZ)-stimulated gene expression (Homo sapiens)
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YAP1 and WWTR1 (TAZ) are transcriptional co-activators, both homologues of the Drosophila Yorkie protein. They both interact with members of the TEAD family of transcription factors, and WWTR1 interacts as well with TBX5 and RUNX2, to promote gene expression. Their transcriptional targets include genes critical to regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Their subcellular location is regulated by the Hippo signaling cascade: phosphorylation mediated by this cascade leads to the cytosolic sequestration of both proteins (Murakami et al. 2005; Oh and Irvine 2010).
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There are two human homologues of each of the three Drosophila kinases, whose functions are well conserved: expression of human proteins rescues fly mutants. The two members of each pair of human homologues have biochemically indistinguishable functions. Autophosphorylated STK3 (MST2) and STK4 (MST1) (homologues of Drosophila Hippo) catalyze the phosphorylation and activation of LATS1 and LATS2 (homologues of Drosophila Warts) and of the accessory proteins MOB1A and MOB1B (homologues of Drosophila Mats). LATS1 and LATS2 in turn catalyze the phosphorylation of the transcriptional co-activators YAP1 and WWTR1 (TAZ) (homologues of Drosophila Yorkie).
In their unphosphorylated states, YAP1 and WWTR1 freely enter the nucleus and function as transcriptional co-activators. In their phosphorylated states, however, YAP1 and WWTR1 are instead bound by 14-3-3 proteins, YWHAB and YWHAE respectively, and sequestered in the cytosol.
Several accessory proteins are required for the three-step kinase cascade to function. STK3 (MST2) and STK4 (MST1) each form a complex with SAV1 (homologue of Drosophila Salvador), and LATS1 and LATS2 form complexes with MOB1A and MOB1B (homologues of Drosophila Mats).
In Drosophila a complex of three proteins, Kibra, Expanded, and Merlin, can trigger the Hippo cascade. A human homologue of Kibra, WWC1, has been identified and indirect evidence suggests that it can regulate the human Hippo pathway (Xiao et al. 2011). A molecular mechanism for this interaction has not yet been worked out and the molecular steps that trigger the Hippo kinase cascade in humans are unknown.
Four additional processes related to human Hippo signaling, although incompletely characterized, have been described in sufficient detail to allow their annotation. All are of physiological interest as they are likely to be parts of mechanisms by which Hippo signaling is modulated or functionally linked to other signaling processes. First, the caspase 3 protease cleaves STK3 (MST2) and STK4 (MST1), releasing inhibitory carboxyterminal domains in each case, leading to increased kinase activity and YAP1 / TAZ phosphorylation (Lee et al. 2001). Second, cytosolic AMOT (angiomotin) proteins can bind YAP1 and WWTR1 (TAZ) in their unphosphorylated states, a process that may provide a Hippo-independent mechanism to down-regulate the activities of these proteins (Chan et al. 2011). Third, WWTR1 (TAZ) and YAP1 bind ZO-1 and 2 proteins (Remue et al. 2010; Oka et al. 2010). Fourth, phosphorylated WWTR1 (TAZ) binds and sequesters DVL2, providing a molecular link between Hippo and Wnt signaling (Varelas et al. 2010).
RUNX2 expression is regulated by estrogen signaling, and RUNX2 is implicated in breast cancer development and metastasis (reviewed in Wysokinski et al. 2014). Besides estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERRA) (Kammerer et al. 2013), RUNX2 transcription is also regulated by TWIST1 (Yang, Yang et al. 2011), glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) (Zhang et al. 2012), NKX3-2 (BAPX1) (Tribioli and Lufkin 1999, Lengner et al. 2005), DLX5 (Robledo et al. 2002, Lee et al. 2005) and MSX2 (Lee et al. 2005). RUNX2 can autoregulate, by directly inhibiting its own transcription (Drissi et al. 2000). Several E3 ubiquitin ligases target RUNX2 for proteasome-mediated degradation: FBXW7a (Kumar et al. 2015), STUB1 (CHIP) (Li et al. 2008), SMURF1 (Zhao et al. 2003, Yang et al. 2014), WWP1 (Jones et al. 2006), and SKP2 (Thacker et al. 2016). Besides formation of RUNX2:CBFB heterodimers, transcriptional activity of RUNX2 is regulated by binding to a number of other transcription factors, for example SOX9 (Zhou et al. 2006, TWIST1 (Bialek et al. 2004) and RB1 (Thomas et al. 2001).
RUNX2 regulates expression of several genes implicated in cell migration during normal development and bone metastasis of breast cancer cells. RUNX2 stimulates transcription of the ITGA5 gene, encoding Integrin alpha 5 (Li et al. 2016) and the ITGBL1 gene, encoding Integrin beta like protein 1 (Li et al. 2015). RUNX2 mediated transcription of the MMP13 gene, encoding Colagenase 3 (Matrix metalloproteinase 13), is stimulated by AKT mediated phosphorylation of RUNX2 (Pande et al. 2013). RUNX2 is implicated in positive regulation of AKT signaling by stimulating expression of AKT-activating TORC2 complex components MTOR and RICTOR, which may contribute to survival of breast cancer cells (Tandon et al. 2014).
RUNX2 inhibits CDKN1A transcription, thus preventing CDKN1A-induced cell cycle arrest. Phosphorylation of RUNX2 by CDK4 in response to high glucose enhances RUNX2-mediated repression of the CDKN1A gene in endothelial cells (Pierce et al. 2012). In mice, Runx2-mediated repression of Cdkn1a may contribute to the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (Kuo et al. 2009). RUNX2 can stimulate transcription of the LGALS3 gene, encoding Galectin-3 (Vladimirova et al. 2008, Zhang et al. 2009). Galectin 3 is expressed in myeloid progenitors and its levels increase during the maturation process (Le Marer 2000).
For a review of RUNX2 function, please refer to Long 2012 and Ito et al. 2015.
Annotated Interactions
Formation of the RUNX2:WWTR1 complex is implicated in promotion of luminal breast cancer progression through regulation of E-cadherin (CDH1) and cross-talk with ERBB2 (HER2) signaling (Brusgard et al. 2015).