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Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Wnt has diverse regulatory roles at multiple cellular levels and numerous targeting points, and aberrant Wnt signaling has crucial roles in carcinogenesis, metastasis, cancer recurrence, and chemotherapy resistance; based on these facts, Wnt represents an appealing therapeutic target...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8152465/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34068065 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers13102351 |
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author | Fatima, Iram Barman, Susmita Rai, Rajani Thiel, Kristina W. Chandra, Vishal |
author_facet | Fatima, Iram Barman, Susmita Rai, Rajani Thiel, Kristina W. Chandra, Vishal |
author_sort | Fatima, Iram |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: Wnt has diverse regulatory roles at multiple cellular levels and numerous targeting points, and aberrant Wnt signaling has crucial roles in carcinogenesis, metastasis, cancer recurrence, and chemotherapy resistance; based on these facts, Wnt represents an appealing therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Although preclinical data supports a role for the Wnt signaling pathway in uterine carcinogenesis, this area remains understudied. In this review, we identify the functions of several oncogenes of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in tumorigenesis and address the translation approach with potent Wnt inhibitors that have already been established or are being investigated to target key components of the pathway. Further research is likely to expand the potential for both biomarker and cancer drug development. There is a scarcity of treatment choices for advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer; investigating the sophisticated connections of Wnt signaling networks in endometrial cancer could address the unmet need for new therapeutic targets. ABSTRACT: This review presents new findings on Wnt signaling in endometrial carcinoma and implications for possible future treatments. The Wnt proteins are essential mediators in cell signaling during vertebrate embryo development. Recent biochemical and genetic studies have provided significant insight into Wnt signaling, in particular in cell cycle regulation, inflammation, and cancer. The role of Wnt signaling is well established in gastrointestinal and breast cancers, but its function in gynecologic cancers, especially in endometrial cancers, has not been well elucidated. Development of a subset of endometrial carcinomas has been attributed to activation of the APC/β-catenin signaling pathway (due to β-catenin mutations) and downregulation of Wnt antagonists by epigenetic silencing. The Wnt pathway also appears to be linked to estrogen and progesterone, and new findings implicate it in mTOR and Hedgehog signaling. Therapeutic interference of Wnt signaling remains a significant challenge. Herein, we discuss the Wnt-activating mechanisms in endometrial cancer and review the current advances and challenges in drug discovery. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8152465 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-81524652021-05-27 Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer Fatima, Iram Barman, Susmita Rai, Rajani Thiel, Kristina W. Chandra, Vishal Cancers (Basel) Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: Wnt has diverse regulatory roles at multiple cellular levels and numerous targeting points, and aberrant Wnt signaling has crucial roles in carcinogenesis, metastasis, cancer recurrence, and chemotherapy resistance; based on these facts, Wnt represents an appealing therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Although preclinical data supports a role for the Wnt signaling pathway in uterine carcinogenesis, this area remains understudied. In this review, we identify the functions of several oncogenes of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in tumorigenesis and address the translation approach with potent Wnt inhibitors that have already been established or are being investigated to target key components of the pathway. Further research is likely to expand the potential for both biomarker and cancer drug development. There is a scarcity of treatment choices for advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer; investigating the sophisticated connections of Wnt signaling networks in endometrial cancer could address the unmet need for new therapeutic targets. ABSTRACT: This review presents new findings on Wnt signaling in endometrial carcinoma and implications for possible future treatments. The Wnt proteins are essential mediators in cell signaling during vertebrate embryo development. Recent biochemical and genetic studies have provided significant insight into Wnt signaling, in particular in cell cycle regulation, inflammation, and cancer. The role of Wnt signaling is well established in gastrointestinal and breast cancers, but its function in gynecologic cancers, especially in endometrial cancers, has not been well elucidated. Development of a subset of endometrial carcinomas has been attributed to activation of the APC/β-catenin signaling pathway (due to β-catenin mutations) and downregulation of Wnt antagonists by epigenetic silencing. The Wnt pathway also appears to be linked to estrogen and progesterone, and new findings implicate it in mTOR and Hedgehog signaling. Therapeutic interference of Wnt signaling remains a significant challenge. Herein, we discuss the Wnt-activating mechanisms in endometrial cancer and review the current advances and challenges in drug discovery. MDPI 2021-05-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8152465/ /pubmed/34068065 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers13102351 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Fatima, Iram Barman, Susmita Rai, Rajani Thiel, Kristina W. Chandra, Vishal Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title | Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title_full | Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title_fullStr | Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title_full_unstemmed | Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title_short | Targeting Wnt Signaling in Endometrial Cancer |
title_sort | targeting wnt signaling in endometrial cancer |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8152465/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34068065 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers13102351 |
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