Down-Regulation of Yes Associated Protein 1 Expression Reduces Cell Proliferation and Clonogenicity of Pancreatic Cancer Cells

The Hippo pathway regulates organ size by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting cell apoptosis upon its activation. The Yes Associated Protein 1 (YAP1) is a nuclear effector of the Hippo pathway that promotes cell growth as a transcription co-activator. In human cancer, the YAP1 gene was reported as amplified and over-expressed in several tumor types. (two-tailed) test were used to determine the statistical significance of the data.. Furthermore, treatment with YAP1 siRNA oligonucleotides diminished the anchorage-independent growth on soft agar of pancreatic cancer cells, suggesting a role of YAP1 in pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis.YAP1 is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and potentially plays an important role in the clonogenicity and growth of pancreatic cancer cells