Journal
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 5, Issue 2, Pages 100-107Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.137
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- US National Cancer Institute [PO1 CA095471]
- US National Institute of General Medical Sciences [1R01GM076398-01]
- American Cancer Society [RSG GMC-112251]
- Welch Foundation [I-1665]
- University of Texas Southwestern
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The pervasive influence of secreted Wnt signaling proteins in tissue homeostasis and tumorigenesis has galvanized efforts to identify small molecules that target Wnt-mediated cellular responses. By screening a diverse synthetic chemical library, we have discovered two new classes of small molecules that disrupt Wnt pathway responses; whereas one class inhibits the activity of Porcupine, a membrane-bound acyltransferase that is essential to the production of Wnt proteins, the other abrogates destruction of Axin proteins, which are suppressors of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activity. With these small molecules, we establish a chemical genetic approach for studying Wnt pathway responses and stem cell function in adult tissue. We achieve transient, reversible suppression of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway response in vivo, and we establish a mechanism-based approach to target cancerous cell growth. The signal transduction mechanisms shown here to be chemically tractable additionally contribute to Wnt-independent signal transduction pathways and thus could be broadly exploited for chemical genetics and therapeutic goals.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available