Francesca Zanconato

TL;DR: YAP/TAZ are identified as sensors and mediators of mechanical cues instructed by the cellular microenvironment and are functionally required for differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells induced by ECM stiffness and for survival of endothelial cells regulated by cell geometry.

TL;DR: In this paper, a number of cancer-associated extrinsic and intrinsic cues conspire to overrule the YAP-inhibiting microenvironment of normal tissues, including changes in mechanotransduction, inflammation, oncogenic signaling, and regulation of the Hippo pathway.

TL;DR: It is shown that the activity of TAZ, a transducer of the Hippo pathway, is required to sustain self-renewal and tumor-initiation capacities in breast CSCs and reveals a mechanistic basis of the control of Hippo kinases by cell polarity.

TL;DR: This work highlights a new layer of signalling integration, feeding on YAP/TAZ function at the chromatin level, which occurs almost exclusively from distal enhancers that contact target promoters through chromatin looping.

TL;DR: It is reported that TAZ, a biologically potent transcriptional coactivator, serves as a downstream element of the Wnt/β-catenin cascade, and is functionally relevant to mediate Wnt biological effects.