The Hedgehog pathway as a drug target in cancer therapy.

As with other developmentally important signaling pathways such as Wnt, TGF or Notch signaling, the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway has been shown to play an important role in the formation of several tumor types, including pancreas, prostate, skin and brain cancer. As the prognosis for some of these cancers is still poor, the Hh pathway may represent a novel drug target with high therapeutic potential. This review describes the mechanisms of signal transduction of the Hh pathway and the alterations that lead to tumor formation, highlighting the several drug development programs that are aimed at correcting these alterations.