Wnts are the major ligands responsible for activating Wnt signaling pathway through binding to Frizzled proteins (Fzd) as the receptors. Among these ligands, Wnt2 plays the main role in the tumorigenesis of several human cancers especially colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, it can be considered as a potential drug target.The aim of this study was to identify potential drug candidates ...

Wnts are the major ligands responsible for activating Wnt signaling pathway through binding to Frizzled proteins (Fzd) as the receptors. Among these ligands, Wnt2 plays the main role in the tumorigenesis of several human cancers especially colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, it can be considered as a potential drug target.The aim of this study was to identify potential drug candidates ...

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 body of scientific literature linking Wnts and Wnt-associated proteins to human disease processes continues to grow in parallel with new discoveries from basic science laboratories that further characterize the elaborate cellular events following the binding of Wnts to their receptors. While Wnt-mediated signaling has long been known to play a major role in human carcinogenesis, accumulatin...

Lgr5 was originally discovered as a common Wnt target gene in adult intestinal crypts and colon cancer. It was subsequently identified as an exquisite marker of multiple Wnt-driven adult stem cell types. Lgr5 and its homologs, Lgr4 and Lgr6, constitute the receptors for R-spondins, potent Wnt signal enhancers and stem cell growth factors. The Lgr5/R-spondin complex acts by neutralizing Rnf43 an...

Abnormal inactivation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is involved in skin diseases like androgenetic alopecia, vitiligo and canities, but small-molecule activators are rarely described. In this study, we investigated stimulatory effects escin on canonical cultured human dermal papilla cells (hDPCs). Escin stimulated signaling, resulting increased β-catenin lymphoid enhancer-binding facto...

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway controls cell proliferation, death and differentiation. Several families of extracellular proteins can antagonize Wnt/β-catenin signaling, including the decoy receptors known as secreted frizzled related proteins (SFRPs), which have a cysteine-rich domain (CRD) structurally similar to the extracellular Wnt-binding domain of the frizzled receptors. SFRPs inhibit Wnt sig...

The WNT signalling pathway is a complex system for transferring information for DNA expression from the cell surface receptors to cytoplasm and then to the nucleus. It is based on several proteins that work together as agonists and antagonists in order to maintain homeostasys and to promote anabolic processes. The WNT system acts on all cellular lines involved in bone resorption and formation. ...

Signaling by the Wnt family of secreted glycoproteins plays important roles in embryonic development and adult homeostasis. Wnt signaling is modulated by a number of evolutionarily conserved inhibitors and activators. Wnt inhibitors belong to small protein families, including sFRP, Dkk, WIF, Wise/SOST, Cerberus, IGFBP, Shisa, Waif1, APCDD1, and Tiki1. Their common feature is to antagonize Wnt s...

Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor (Ror) proteins are a conserved family of tyrosine kinase receptors that function in developmental processes including skeletal and neuronal development, cell movement and cell polarity. Although Ror proteins were originally named because the associated ligand and signaling pathway were unknown, recent studies in multiple species have now established...