Figure 1. The GNAQ and GNA11 uveal melanoma oncogenes encode persistently activated heterotrimeric G protein α subunits of the Gαq family.

Gαq activates classical cytosolic second messengers as well as guanine nucleotide exchange factors activating the small GTPases Rho and Rac, which in turn promote the stimulation of the YAP transcriptional co-activator by a cytoskeletal-mediated mechanism resulting in YAP dissociation from AMOT and its related proteins. The dynamic regulation of YAP molecular complexes and its distinct pools by the canonical Hippo pathway and Gαq, and the therapeutic potential of targeting active nuclear YAP are described in the text.