Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a common hereditary disease associated with progressive renal failure. Although cyst growth and compression of surrounding tissue may account for some loss of renal tissue, the other factors contributing to the progressive renal failure in patients with ADPKD are incompletely understood. Here, we report that secreted frizzled-related prote...

The secreted frizzled-related protein (sFRP) family plays an important role in the inhibition of the Wnt signaling pathway in various cancers. The functional significance of Wnt antagonist sFRP3 has not been investigated in renal cancer. We performed tissue microarray and found that the level of sFRP3 protein was high in normal kidney, low in primary renal cancer tissues, and high in metastatic...

Angiosarcoma is a biologically aggressive vascular malignancy with a high metastatic potential. In the era of targeted medicine, knowledge of specific molecular tumor characteristics has become more important. Molecular imaging using targeted ultrasound contrast agents can monitor tumor progression non-invasively. Secreted frizzled related protein 2 (SFRP2) is a tumor endothelial marker express...

Tumours contain a small number of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs), and it is through these that tumour regrowth originates at secondary sites, thus rendering CSCs an attractive target for treatment. Cancer cells adapt cellular metabolism for aggressive proliferation. Tumour cells use less efficient glycolysis for the production of ATP and increasing tumour mass, instead of oxidativ...

OBJECTIVE The inflammatory response after myocardial infarction plays a crucial role in the healing process. Lately, there is accumulating evidence that the Wnt/Frizzled pathway may play a distinct role in inflammation. We have shown that secreted frizzled-related protein-1 (sFRP-1) overexpression reduced postinfarction scar size, and we noticed a decrease in neutrophil infiltration in the isch...

Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy remains one of the most common and preventable causes of fetal growth restriction (FGR), a condition in which a fetus is unable to achieve its genetically determined potential size. Even though epidemiologic evidence clearly links maternal cigarette smoking with FGR, insight into the molecular mechanisms of cigarette smoke-induced FGR is lacking. Here...

The caudomedial margin of the medial pallium, known as the cortical hem, expresses several Wnt genes that have been shown to be crucial for cortical development. We examined the expression of members of the Frizzled (mFz) family of Wnt receptors and the Secreted Frizzled Related Protein (SFRP) family of Wnt inhibitors during telencephalic development. We found that mFz-5 and mFz-8 are specifica...

Wnt proteins and their receptors, members of the frizzled protein family, play a key role in regulating a wide range of developmental processes. Recently, putative regulators of Wnt signaling known as secreted frizzled-related proteins (SFRPs) have been identified in several vertebrates. Here, we describe the cloning of a novel SFRP (suSFRP1) from the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. ...

PURPOSE Inherited retinal degenerations such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are characterized by progressive death of the photoreceptors due to apoptosis. To identify changes in gene expression associated with the degenerative state in RP retinas, expression profiling of apoptosis-related genes was performed using a gridded array technique. METHODS Total RNAs from RP and control retinas were us...