The Canonical Wnt Signaling (Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway): A Potential Target for Cancer Prevention and Therapy

Precise regulation of signal transduction pathways is crucial for normal animal development and for maintaining cellular and tissue homeostasis in adults. The Wnt/Frizzled-mediated signaling includes canonical and non-canonical signal transduction pathways. Upregulation or downregulation of the canonical Wnt-signaling (or the Wnt/β-Catenin signal transduction) leads to a variety of human diseases, including many human cancers, neurodegenerative, skin, bone and heart deficiencies. Therefore, Wnt/β-Catenin signal transduction is a potential clinical target for the treatment of not only human cancers but also some other human chronic diseases. Here, some recent results including the results from my laboratory highlighting the role of Wnt/β-Catenin signal transduction in human cancers will be reviewed. After a brief overview on canonical Wnt signaling and introducing some critical β-Catenin/TCF-target genes, the interaction of canonical Wnt signaling with some common human cancers will be discussed. Finally, the different segments of this signaling pathway, which have been considered as targets for clinical purposes, will be discussed.