Targeting Notch Pathway in Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics: An Emerging Approach

Abstract

: The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved pathway usually present in multicellular organisms, which plays a pivotal role in cell fate determination and proliferation. Due to this property, it is highly oncogenic, especially in the dysregulated version of the Notch pathway, where apoptosis is inhibited, and abnormal cell growth is supported. Notch receptors and ligand proteins play an essential role in cancers, for instance, myeloid leukemia, T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia, and organ-specific, i.e., breast, colon, pancreas, and skin cancers. Any type of cancer generates as a result of genetic defects, including epigenetic alterations as well as mutations. These alterations can be used by the researchers to find a promising diagnostic as well as therapeutic tool for cancer. The successful inhibition of the Notch pathway with the help of specific biomarkers or suppression of gene expression represents a new remedy in the field of cancer research. This article focuses on the various remedies hidden within the Notch pathway’s mechanism, primarily based on different patents published in recent years for assisting cancer diagnosis and succeeding treatment.