Although the role of NOTCH signaling has been extensively studied in health and disease, many questions still remain unresolved. Being crucial for tissue homeostasis, NOTCH signaling is also implicated in multiple cancers by either promoting or suppressing tumor development. In this review we illustrate the context-dependent role of NOTCH signaling during tumorigenesis with a particular focus on gliomas, the most frequent and aggressive brain tumors in adults. For a long time, NOTCH has been considered an oncogene in glioma mainly by virtue of its neural stem cell-promoting activity. However, the recent identification of NOTCH-inactivating mutations in some glioma patients has challenged this notion, prompting a re-examination of the function of NOTCH in brain tumor subtypes. We discuss recent findings that might help to reconcile the controversial role of NOTCH signaling in this disease, and pose outstanding questions that still remain to be addressed.

中文翻译：

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脑胶质瘤中NOTCH信号的致癌和肿瘤抑制功能

尽管已经对NOTCH信号传导在健康和疾病中的作用进行了广泛研究，但许多问题仍未解决。对于组织动态平衡至关重要，NOTCH信号还可以通过促进或抑制肿瘤的发展而参与多种癌症。在这篇综述中，我们说明了NOTCH信号在肿瘤发生过程中的背景依赖性作用，特别关注神经胶质瘤，这是成人中最常见和侵袭性脑瘤。长期以来，NOTCH主要由于其神经干细胞的促进活性而被认为是神经胶质瘤的癌基因。然而，最近在一些神经胶质瘤患者中鉴定出NOTCH失活的突变已经挑战了这一观念，促使人们重新检查脑肿瘤亚型中NOTCH的功能。