Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) stimulates endothelial cells to promote both developmental and pathological angiogenesis. VEGF also directly affects tumor cells and is associated with the initiation, progression, and recurrence of tumors, as well as the emergence and maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Studies have uncovered the importance of the transcriptional regulators YAP and TAZ in mediating VEGF signaling. For example, VEGF stimulates the GTPase activity of Rho family members and thereby alters cytoskeletal dynamics, which contributes to the activation of YAP and TAZ. In turn, YAP- and TAZ-mediated changes in gene expression sustain Rho family member activity and cytoskeletal effects to promote both vascular growth and remodeling in endothelial cells and the acquisition of stem-like traits in tumor cells. In this Review, we discuss how these findings further explain the pathophysiological roles of VEGF and YAP/TAZ, identify their connections to other receptor-mediated pathways, and reveal ways of therapeutically targeting their convergent signals in patients.

血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF) 刺激内皮细胞以促进发育和病理性血管生成。VEGF 还直接影响肿瘤细胞，并与肿瘤的发生、进展和复发以及癌症干细胞 (CSC) 的出现和维持有关。研究揭示了转录调节因子 YAP 和 TAZ 在介导 VEGF 信号传导中的重要性。例如，VEGF 刺激 Rho 家族成员的 GTPase 活性，从而改变细胞骨架动力学，这有助于 YAP 和 TAZ 的激活。反过来，YAP 和 TAZ 介导的基因表达变化维持了 Rho 家族成员的活性和细胞骨架效应，以促进内皮细胞的血管生长和重塑以及肿瘤细胞中干细胞样特征的获得。在本次审查中，