WWC Proteins: Important Regulators of Hippo Signaling in Cancer

The Hippo signaling pathway is known to regulate cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. Whereas activation of the Hippo signaling pathway leads to phosphorylation and cytoplasmic retention of the transcriptional coactivator YAP, decreased Hippo signaling results in nuclear import of YAP and subsequent transcription of pro-proliferative genes. Hence, a dynamic and precise regulation of the Hippo signaling pathway is crucial for organ size control and the prevention of tumor formation. The transcriptional activity of YAP is controlled by a growing number of upstream regulators including the family of WWC proteins. WWC1, WWC2 and WWC3 represent cytosolic scaffolding proteins involved in intracellular transport processes and different signal transduction pathways. Earlier in vitro experiments demonstrated that WWC proteins positively regulate the Hippo pathway via the activation of large tumor suppressor kinases 1/2 (LATS1/2) kinases and the subsequent cytoplasmic accumulation of phosphorylated YAP. Later, reduced WWC expression and subsequent high YAP activity were shown to correlate with the progression of human cancer in different organs. Although the function of WWC proteins as upstream regulators of Hippo signaling was confirmed in various studies, their important role as tumor modulators is often overlooked. This review has been designed to provide an update on the published data linking WWC1, WWC2 and WWC3 to cancer, with a focus on Hippo pathway-dependent mechanisms.