Notch signaling, an evolutionarily conserved signaling cascade, is critical for normal biological processes of cell differentiation, development, and homeostasis. Deregulation of the Notch signaling pathway has been associated with tumor progression. Thus, Notch presents as an interesting target for a variety of cancer subtypes and its signaling mechanisms have been actively explored from the therapeutic viewpoint. However, besides acting as an oncogene, Notch pathway can possess also tumor suppressive functions, being implicated in inhibition of cancer development. Given such interesting dual and dynamic role of Notch, in this review, we discuss how the evolutionarily conserved Notch signaling pathway drives hallmarks of tumor progression and how it could be targeted for a promising treatment and management of cancer. In addition, the up-to-date information on the inhibitors currently under clinical trials for Notch targets is presented along with how NOTCH inhibitors can be used in conjunction with established chemotherapy/radiotherapy regimes.

Notch 信号是一种进化上保守的信号级联，对于细胞分化、发育和体内平衡的正常生物过程至关重要。Notch 信号通路的失调与肿瘤进展有关。因此，Notch 是多种癌症亚型的有趣靶点，并且从治疗的角度积极探索了其信号传导机制。然而，除了作为致癌基因外，Notch 通路还具有肿瘤抑制功能，参与抑制癌症发展。鉴于 Notch 如此有趣的双重和动态作用，在这篇综述中，我们讨论了进化上保守的 Notch 信号通路如何驱动肿瘤进展的标志，以及它如何成为有希望的癌症治疗和管理的目标。此外，