LATS1 and neoplasm: Large tumor suppressor1 and LATS2 are the core kinases of the Hippo pathway, in which LATS1 and LATS2 become activated by upstream kinases in response to stimuli and then phosphorylate and thereby repress the nuclear activity of two transcriptional co-factors YAP and TAZ by their cytoplasmic retention, eventually preventing the transcription of tumor-promoting genes.