Law Sau Fai Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone and Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
Institute of Integrated Bioinfomedicine and Translational Science, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.
Front Immunol. 2021 Feb 25;12:602330. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.602330. eCollection 2021.
Wnt signaling is one of the fundamental pathways that play a major role in almost every aspect of biological systems. In addition to the well-known influence of Wnt signaling on bone formation, its essential role in the immune system also attracted increasing attention. Sclerostin, a confirmed Wnt antagonist, is also proven to modulate the development and differentiation of normal immune cells, particularly B cells. Aptamers, single-stranded (ss) oligonucleotides, are capable of specifically binding to a variety of target molecules by virtue of their unique three-dimensional structures. With in-depth study of those functional nucleic acids, they have been gradually applied to diagnostic and therapeutic area in immune diseases due to their various advantages over antibodies. In this review, we focus on several issues including the roles of Wnt signaling and Wnt antagonist sclerostin in the immune system. For the sake of understanding, current examples of aptamers applications for the immune diseases are also discussed. At the end of this review, we propose our ideas for the future research directions.
Wnt 信号通路是发挥重要作用的基本通路之一，几乎涉及生物系统的各个方面。除了 Wnt 信号通路对骨形成的众所周知的影响外，其在免疫系统中的重要作用也引起了越来越多的关注。骨硬化蛋白（一种已被证实的 Wnt 拮抗剂）也被证明可以调节正常免疫细胞，特别是 B 细胞的发育和分化。适体是一种单链（ss）寡核苷酸，由于其独特的三维结构，能够特异性地结合多种靶分子。随着对这些功能核酸的深入研究，由于其优于抗体的各种优势，它们已逐渐应用于免疫性疾病的诊断和治疗领域。在这篇综述中，我们重点关注了 Wnt 信号通路和 Wnt 拮抗剂骨硬化蛋白在免疫系统中的作用。为了便于理解，还讨论了适体在免疫性疾病中的应用实例。在这篇综述的最后，我们提出了对未来研究方向的看法。
