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

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 known to be 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, such as myeloid leukemia, T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia, and organ-specific, i.e., breast, colon, pancreas, and skin cancers. Any type of cancer generates due to genetic defects, including epigenetic alterations and mutations. The researchers can use these alterations 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 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.