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Chapter category: Reproductive Biology
Modulating the Hedgehog Pathway in Diseases
Chapter authors:
Frederic J. de Sauvage and Lee L. Rubin
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The hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a signaling system that regulates a wide range of develop
mental processes.10 Hh proteins act as morphogens to induce cell differentiation in a
dose dependent manner, control cell proliferation, or alter cell shape. Aberrant regulation
of the Hh signal caused by mutation in components of the pathway has been shown to
lead to various developmental disorders18 or more recently to cancer.20,23 Most components of
the Hh pathway were first identified in flies and later shown to be conserved in higher organisms.
Although still incomplete, a picture of how the hedgehog signal is transmitted at the
cellular level has started to emerge, allowing for potential therapeutic approaches to the treatment
of diseases involving this pathway.
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