Lipid Regulator Shapes Heart, Lung Development
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified how arachidonic acid regulates the Smoothened protein to influence Sonic Hedgehog signaling. This discovery explains how specific lipids guide embryonic heart and lung development and offers potential targets for cancer therapies.
Why it matters
Understanding this molecular pathway provides a new framework for developing targeted treatments for developmental disorders and cancers associated with abnormal cell signaling.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn. - July 27, 2026) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists uncovered a regulatory mechanism for signaling of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), a pathway essential for embryonic development. Researchers found that the lipid (or fatty acid) arachidonic acid boosts the activity of Smoothened (a protein that relays SHH signals inside cells) through a newly discovered binding site that alters the receptor's behavior to enhance its signaling activity. Disrupting this interaction impaired heart and lung development, revealing how precise control of SHH signaling guides tissue formation. The findings, published in Nature Communications , provide insight into how this pathway may be modulated in diseases such as cancer.
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