Wnt signaling in development and stem cell control

The Wnt signaling pathway is one of the central signaling pathways regulating early vertebrate development.The role of this signaling pathway on the specification of embryonic axes, especially in Xenopus embryo, is well documented. In recent years, it has become clear that the Wnt pathway also regulate many aspects of stem cell behavior and adult tissue homeostasis. Since stem cells are an ideal candidate for cell therapy, it is important to identify the signaling network that controls the activity of these cells. Our recent works have shown that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) resulted in a decrease in bone matrix synthesis and expression of osteogenic specific genes in these cells. Moreover, while the expression of BMP and its target gene (ID۳) was decreased, the expression of BMP antagonist, Noggin, was significantly increased in Wnt activated AD-MSCs. Altogether, our recent results suggest that activation of Wnt signaling in osteogenic induced AD-MSCs inhibits osteogenic differentiation through inducing the expression of BMP antagonist. These results provide further insight into the role of Wntsignaling in stem cell differentiation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mesenchymal stem cells ، Wnt signaling pathway ، osteogenic differentiation