Division of labor between YAP and TAZ in non-small cell lung cancer [ChIP]

The paralogous transcriptional cofactors Yes-associated protein (YAP) and transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ, also called WWTR1), the main downstream effectors of the Hippo signal transduction pathway, are emerging as pivotal determinants of malignancy in lung cancer. Traditionally, studies have tended to consider YAP and TAZ as functionally redundant transcriptional cofactors, with similar biological impact. However, there is growing evidence that each of them also possesses distinct attributes. We sought to systematically characterize the division of labor between YAP and TAZ in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common histological subtype of lung cancer. We showed that the two paralogs orchestrate non-overlapping transcription programs in this cancer type. Overall design: To compare YAP and TAZ chromatin binding in lung cancer-derived cells, we performed ChIP-sequencing (ChIP-seq) analysis with either anti-YAP or anti-TAZ antibodies.