Research progress of Hedgehog signaling pathway and its inhibitors in cancers

The Hedgehog(HH) pathway is a conserved signaling pathway essential for embryonic development and organ formation. It can be abnormally activated by the loss or mutation of Patched(PTCH), mutation of Smoothened(SMO), or abnormal amplification of Gli1 and increased Gli1 protein stability, resulting in the occurrence of cancers, such as basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma. Thus targeting elements of the HH pathway may offer an effective therapeutic strategy in the fight against certain cancers. Many small-molecule inhibitors that target different components of the HH pathway have already been discovered, and most of these seem to target elements upstream of the HH pathway. The search for small molecules that may target elements downstream of the HH pathway and their development into potential and effective anti-cancer drugs may constitute a major part of future research into HH signaling.