title: Wnt signaling from development to disease: insights from model systems.
abstract: One of the early surprises in the study of cell adhesion was the discovery that beta-catenin plays dual roles, serving as an essential component of cadherin-based cell-cell adherens junctions and also serving as the key regulated effector of the Wnt signaling pathway. Here, we review our current model of Wnt signaling and discuss how recent work using model organisms has advanced our understanding of the roles Wnt signaling plays in both normal development and in disease. These data help flesh out the mechanisms of signaling from the membrane to the nucleus, revealing new protein players and providing novel information about known components of the pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1048, USA.
authors.forename: Ken M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Cadigan
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peifer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004330:Drosophila; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin