The Hippo pathway is an evolutionary conserved signaling network that regulates essential processes such as organ size, cell proliferation, migration, stemness and apoptosis. Alterations in this pathway are commonly found in solid tumors and can lead to hyperproliferation, resistance to chemotherapy, compensation for mKRAS and tumor immune evasion. As the terminal effectors of the Hippo pathway, the transcriptional coactivators YAP1/TAZ and the transcription factors TEAD1-4 present exciting opportunities to pharmacologically modulate the Hippo biology in cancer settings, inflammation and regenerative medicine. This review will provide an overview of the progress and current strategies to directly and indirectly target the YAP1/TAZ protein-protein interaction (PPI) with TEAD1-4 across multiple modalities, with focus on recent small molecules able to selectively bind to TEAD, block its autopalmitoylation and inhibit YAP1/TAZ-TEAD-dependent transcription in cancer.
Keywords: Hippo pathway; TEAD binders; TEAD transcription factors; YAP1/TAZ; palmitate pocket.