Blocking TAZ and YAP signals in bone and soft tissue sarcoma
Official title: Upstream regulation of TAZ and YAP in sarcomas: Towards combinatorial therapytargeting the Hippo pathway
Funded at Iowa City VA Medical Center · NIH-11131027 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Looking at whether blocking the signals that turn on the proteins TAZ and YAP could lead to new treatments for people with bone and soft tissue sarcomas.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Iowa City VA Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Iowa City, United States) |
| Project start | October 1, 2016 |
| Project end | June 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| NIH project number | 5I01BX003644-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11131027 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with bone or soft-tissue sarcomas, especially those willing to provide tumor samples or participate in future trials, would be the most relevant candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with cancers other than sarcoma or whose tumors are driven by different molecular mechanisms may not benefit from these specific findings.
What this research studies
Researchers will study tumor samples and laboratory models from sarcoma patients to understand how the Hippo pathway proteins TAZ and YAP become activated. They will test whether loss of Hippo kinases driven by histone deacetylation together with PI3 kinase signaling turns on TAZ/YAP. The team will use patient tumor samples, sarcoma cell lines, and pharmacologic approaches such as HDAC inhibitors to see if reactivating the Hippo kinases can shut down TAZ/YAP. Findings could guide combinations of targeted drugs to try in future clinical trials for sarcoma patients.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to new targeted drug combinations that slow tumor growth and improve survival for people with sarcoma.
How similar studies have gone: Preclinical studies have shown that HDAC inhibitors can restore Hippo kinase expression and reduce TAZ/YAP activity, but clinical benefit from this approach is not yet proven.
Where this research is happening
-
Iowa City VA Medical Center
Iowa City, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tanas, Munir — Iowa City VA Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Tanas, Munir
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Biomarkers that predict how Parkinson’s will progress
This NIH grant aims to find markers, like brain imaging and blood tests, that could tell doctors early on which people with Parkinson’s are likely to see faster or slower disease progression.
-
Immune system and inflammation in blast-related brain injury progression
This project looks at how the body's immune response after blast-related brain injury may drive ongoing brain and eye damage, with potential therapies that are already approved for other uses.
-
New, practical metrics to improve how hospitals prescribe antibiotics
Aims to develop and test new metrics that better measure how well hospitals use antibiotics, with the goal of improving patient safety and reducing resistance.
-
Improving antimicrobial use at discharge by building on hospital stewardship
This grant explores how to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions after hospital discharge to help prevent infections and side effects.
-
Perioperative pain self-management to prevent long-term pain and opioid use
This project tests whether a short cognitive-behavioral perioperative pain self-management program helps surgical patients avoid chronic post-surgical pain and prolonged opioid use.
-
Center for Preventing and Treating Visual Loss in Veterans
A center-backed effort to detect early signs of eye and brain disorders that can cause blindness, using AI and advanced eye imaging to guide new treatments for Veterans and the general public.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.