Abstract
The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway plays a key role during embryogenesis and tissue regeneration. Recently, studies revealed that overactivated Hh signaling leads to fibrogenesis in many types of tissues. The activation of Hh signaling is involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and excessive extracellular matrix deposition. Blockade of Hh signaling abolishes the induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and ameliorates tissue fibrosis. Therefore, new therapeutic targets to alleviate fibrosis based on the Hh signaling have attracted a great deal of attention. This is a new strategy for treating fibrosis and other related diseases. In this review, we discuss the crucial role of Hh signaling in fibrogenesis to provide a better understanding of their relationship and to encourage the study of novel targeted therapies.
Footnotes
- Received November 7, 2014.
- Accepted November 10, 2014.
This study was supported by the Opening Project of Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Discipline of Clinical Medicine, the Wenzhou Municipal Science and Technology Plan Project [Grant Y20110028], and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang province, People’s Republic of China [Grants LQ12H05001, LY12H05004].
- Copyright © 2014 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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