Yamaguchi Terry P
Cancer and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, the National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2008;468:287-305. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-249-6_23.
Proper cell-cell communication is necessary to orchestrate the cell fate determination, proliferation, movement, and differentiation that occurs during the development of a complex, multicellular organism. Members of the Wnt family of secreted signaling molecules regulate these processes in virtually every embryonic tissue and during the homeostatic maintenance of adult tissues. Mammalian genetic studies have been particularly useful in illustrating the specific roles that Wnt signaling pathways play in embryonic development, and in the etiology of diseases such as cancer. This chapter will largely focus on the functional roles that Wnts, signaling through the Wnt/-catenin pathway, play during early mammalian development.
适当的细胞间通讯对于协调复杂多细胞生物体发育过程中发生的细胞命运决定、增殖、运动和分化是必要的。分泌型信号分子Wnt家族的成员在几乎每个胚胎组织以及成体组织的稳态维持过程中调节这些过程。哺乳动物遗传学研究在阐明Wnt信号通路在胚胎发育以及癌症等疾病病因学中所起的特定作用方面特别有用。本章将主要聚焦于通过Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路发挥作用的Wnt在早期哺乳动物发育过程中所起的功能作用。
