title: Wnt signaling and human diseases: what are the therapeutic implications?
abstract: Wnt signaling plays an important role in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. De-regulation of these signaling pathways has been implicated in many human diseases, ranging from cancers to skeletal disorders. Wnt proteins are a large family of secreted factors that bind to the Frizzled receptors and LRP5/6 co-receptors and initiate complex signaling cascades. Over the past two decades, our understanding of Wnt signaling has been significantly improved due to the identification of many key regulators and mediators of these pathways. Given that Wnt signaling is tightly regulated at multiple cellular levels, these pathways themselves offer ample nodal points for targeted therapeutics. Here, we focus on our current understanding of these pathways, the associations of Wnt signaling with human disorders, and the opportunities to target key components of Wnt signaling for rational drug discovery.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Diagnostic Medicine designated by the Ministry of Education, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Jinyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhong-Liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Xiaoji
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Wen-Xin
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Sharff
authors.forename: Ni
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Rex C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Haydon
authors.forename: Hue H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Luu
authors.forename: Tong-Chuan
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004194:Disease; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin