4.6 Review

HIPK2 as a Novel Regulator of Fibrosis

Journal

CANCERS
Volume 15, Issue 4, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/cancers15041059

Keywords

HIPK2; fibrosis; kidney fibrosis; lung fibrosis; liver fibrosis; cardiac fibrosis; cancer-associated fibrosis; fibroblasts; myofibroblasts; cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF)

Categories

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Fibrosis is a global medical problem that affects almost every organ and can lead to organ failure. The lack of effective biomarkers hampers the development of targeted therapies for fibrosis. Recent studies have highlighted the role of HIPK2 in regulating fibrosis, offering new possibilities for therapeutic intervention.
Simple Summary Fibrosis can affect almost every organ and represents an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite significant progress in our understanding of the pathobiology of fibrosis, there is still a lack of putative anti-fibrotic targets to be exploited in anti-fibrosis therapies or used as biomarkers of fibrosis progression. The discovery that HIPK2 can control molecular pathways involved in fibrosis has opened a new field of study in both pathophysiology and the treatment of fibrosis. Fibrosis is an unmet medical problem due to a lack of evident biomarkers to help develop efficient targeted therapies. Fibrosis can affect almost every organ and eventually induce organ failure. Homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2) is a protein kinase that controls several molecular pathways involved in cell death and development and it has been extensively studied, mainly in the cancer biology field. Recently, a role for HIPK2 has been highlighted in tissue fibrosis. Thus, HIPK2 regulates several pro-fibrotic pathways such as Wnt/beta-catenin, TGF-beta and Notch involved in renal, pulmonary, liver and cardiac fibrosis. These findings suggest a wider role for HIPK2 in tissue physiopathology and highlight HIPK2 as a promising target for therapeutic purposes in fibrosis. Here, we will summarize the recent studies showing the involvement of HIPK2 as a novel regulator of fibrosis.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available