Wnt signaling in disease and in development

The highly conserved Wnt secreted proteins are critical mediators of cell-to-cell signaling during development of animals. Recent biochemical and genetic analyses have led to significant insight into understanding how Wnt signals work. The catalogue of Wnt signaling components has exploded. We now realize that multiple extracellular, cytoplasmic, and nuclear components modulate Wnt signaling. Moreover, receptor-ligand specificity and multiple feedback loops determine Wnt signaling outputs. It is also clear that Wnt signals are required for adult tissue maintenance. Perturbations in Wnt signaling cause human degenerative diseases as well as cancer.