Advances in Chemical Biology

0502878 - ÚMG 2019 RIV CZ eng M - Monography Chapter
Janečková, Lucie - Babošová, Oľga - Kořínek, Vladimír
Small molecule modulators of Wnt/β-catenin-driven gene expression.
Advances in Chemical Biology. Praha: OPTIO CZ, 2019 - (Bartůněk, P.), s. 2-19. ISBN 978-80-88011-03-3
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LO1220
Institutional support: RVO:68378050
Keywords : Wnt pathway * cancer therapy * small molecule modulators
OECD category: Cell biology

The Wnt pathway represents an evolutionarily conserved signaling mechanism that governs transcriptional programs responsible for proper embryonic development and homeostasis of multiple adult organs. In healthy tissues, canonical -catenin-dependent Wnt signaling is indispensable for stem cell maintenance. In contrast, aberrant Wnt pathway activation underlies a number of diseases, most notably various types of solid cancers and leukemia. The Wnt signal-transducing cascade includes multiple components involved in the pathway regulation. In the past 20 years, great effort has been concentrated on discovering and characterizing these components. Additionally, many small molecule compounds that influence the Wnt signaling output have been identified. Wnt signaling inhibitors might be used for improved cancer therapy. On the other hand, as culture media constituents, the Wnt activators can support growth of adult stem cells in vitro. Both of these usages make search for modulators of Wnt signaling an attractive area of biomedical research. In this review, we summarize a number of compounds that were recently shown to effectively modulate Wnt/β-catenin signaling. As our team has identified some of these compounds, the review also focuses on experimental tools and methods used to identify and test small molecule inhibitors of Wnt signaling.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0295001