Cyclooxygenase-2 is overexpressed in the majority of colorectal tumours leading to elevated levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), promoting many hallmarks of cancer. Importantly, PGE2 is reported to enhance Wnt/β-catenin signalling in colorectal carcinoma cells and in normal haematopoietic stem cells where it promotes stem cell function. Although Wnt signalling plays a crucial role in intestinal s...

Introduction Wnt signalling is implicated in numerous aspects of development, cell biology and physiology. this meeting brought together several leading scientists in the Wnt signalling field, who discussed their latest research in this rapidly growing discipline. the expanding number of diseases that are the consequence of mutations in components of the Wnt signalling pathway also attracted re...

Dishevelled is a pivot in Wnt signal transduction, controlling both β-catenin-dependent transcription to specify proliferative cell fates, and cell polarity and other non-nuclear events in post-mitotic cells. In response to Wnt signals, or when present at high levels, Dishevelled forms signalosomes by dynamic polymerization. Its levels are controlled by ubiquitylation, mediated by various ubiqu...

LGR5 is a marker of normal and cancer stem cells in various tissues where it functions as a receptor for R-spondins and increases canonical Wnt signalling amplitude. Here we report that LGR5 is also highly expressed in a subset of high grade neuroblastomas. Neuroblastoma is a clinically heterogenous paediatric cancer comprising a high proportion of poor prognosis cases (~40%) which are frequent...

During development and disease, the exocytosis of signalling molecules, such as Wnt ligands, is essential to orchestrate cellular programs in multicellular organisms. However, it remains a largely unresolved question whether signalling molecules follow specialized transport routes through the exocytic pathway. Here we identify several Drosophila p24 proteins that are required for Wnt signalling...

In Xenopus, the establishment of the anteroposterior axis involves two key signalling pathways, canonical Wnt and Nodal-related TGFbeta. There are also a number of transcription factors that feedback upon these pathways. The homeodomain protein Hex, an early marker of anterior positional information, acts as a transcriptional repressor, suppressing induction and propagation of the Spemman organ...

BACKGROUND Mesendoderm induction during embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation in vitro is stimulated by the Transforming Growth Factor and Wingless (Wnt) families of growth factors. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We identified the periods during which Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) 4, Wnt3a or Activin A were able to induce expression of the mesendoderm marker, Mixl1, in differentiating mouse ESCs. ...

WNT signalling plays a central role in mammalian sex determination by promoting ovarian development and repressing aspects of testis development in the early gonad. Dickkopf homolog 1 (DKK1) is a WNT signalling antagonist that plays critical roles in multiple developmental systems by modulating WNT activity. Here, we examined the role of DKK1 in mouse sex determination and early gonadal develop...

Limb amputation in axolotls was performed to obtain data demonstrating that a chemical agonist of Wnt (int-related protein)/β-catenin signalling can have a role in axolotl limb regeneration (Wischin et al., 2017) [1]. The data revealed that active β-catenin protein was present during limb regeneration in some Leydig cells in the epithelium; after the chemical treatment, it was observed in more ...

Distant metastasis is the primary barrier for the successful treatment of patients with colorectal cancer, and thus, searching for new therapeutic targets by further exploring the molecular mechanisms of colorectal cancer metastasis is important. In this study, we investigated the biological and clinical significance of RASSF6 in colorectal cancer as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms....