title: Wnt and the Wnt signaling pathway in bone development and disease.
abstract: Wnt signaling affects both bone modeling, which occurs during development, and bone remodeling, which is a lifelong process involving tissue renewal. Wnt signals are especially known to affect the differentiation of osteoblasts. In this review, we summarize recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of Wnt signaling, which is divided into two major branches: the canonical pathway and the noncanonical pathway. The canonical pathway is also called the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. There are two major noncanonical pathways: the Wnt-planar cell polarity pathway (Wnt-PCP pathway) and the Wnt-calcium pathway (Wnt-Ca² pathway). This review also discusses how Wnt ligands, receptors, intracellular effectors, transcription factors, and antagonists affect both the bone modeling and bone remodeling processes. We also review the role of Wnt ligands, receptors, intracellular effectors, transcription factors, and antagonists in bone as demonstrated in mouse models. Disrupted Wnt signaling is linked to several bone diseases, including osteoporosis, van Buchem disease, and sclerosteosis. Studying the mechanism of Wnt signaling and its interactions with other signaling pathways in bone will provide potential therapeutic targets to treat these bone diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SHEL 815, 1825 University Blvd, Birmingham AL 35294-2182, USA.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SHEL 815, 1825 University Blvd, Birmingham AL 35294-2182, USA.
authors.forename: Yi-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SHEL 815, 1825 University Blvd, Birmingham AL 35294-2182, USA.
authors.forename: Christie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paulson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics, Life Science College, Zhejiang University, 388 Yuhang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian-Zhong
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology, Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM), Shanghai 200025, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SHEL 815, 1825 University Blvd, Birmingham AL 35294-2182, USA.
authors.forename: Mengrui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, SHEL 815, 1825 University Blvd, Birmingham AL 35294-2182, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology*; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D051153:Wnt Proteins