Osteosarcoma is characterized by frequent relapse and metastatic disease associated with resistance to chemotherapy. We previously showed that syndecan-2 is a mediator of the antioncogenic effect of chemotherapeutic drugs. The purpose of this work was to elucidate molecular mechanisms responsible for the low expression of syndecan-2 in osteosarcoma. We compared the regulatory activity of cis-ac...

Retina ganglion cell (RGC) axons grow along a stereotyped pathway undergoing coordinated rounds of fasciculation and defasciculation, which are critical to establishing proper eye-brain connections. How this coordination is achieved is poorly understood, but shedding of guidance cues by metalloproteinases is emerging as a relevant mechanism. Secreted Frizzled Related Proteins (Sfrps) are multif...

Animals’ Wnt signaling pathways are highly preserved signal transduction pathways, which play a crucial role in embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis. This chapter reviews the three major focusing on some critical proteins Wnt/β-catenin path terms of their evolution act as gateway between extracellular, cytoplasmic, nuclear components to transmit pathways. The Frizzled (FZD) family G-prote...

The telencephalon is one of the most complex parts of the brain, and its patterning is still poorly understood. In this issue of Neuron, describe a novel Wnt antagonist Tlc, a member of the secreted Frizzled-related protein (sFrp) family. Secreted from the anterior boundary of the zebrafish neural plate, Tlc appears to protect the telencephalon from obliteration by a more caudal neural Wnt signal.

Epigenetic silencing of secreted frizzled-related protein (SFRP) genes, antagonists of the WNT pathway, contributes to the pathogenesis of several cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We hypothesize that methylation analysis of SFRPs family could improve their use as a panel of biomarkers for diagnosing and staging of NSCLC in China. The expression of four SFRP members (SFRP1, ...

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by a clonal accumulation of mature neoplastic B cells indicating disruption of apoptosis. Restriction Landmark Genome Scanning was done to identify novel target genes silenced by CpG island methylation in CLL. Secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4), a negative regulator of the Wnt signaling pathway, was found to be frequently methy...

The Xenopus gene crescent encodes a member of the secreted Frizzled-related protein (sFRP) family and is expressed in the head organizer region. However, the target and function of Crescent in early development are not well understood. Here, we describe a role of Crescent in the regulation of convergent extension movements (CEMs) during gastrulation and neurulation. We show that overexpression ...