Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway

Wnt family proteins are secreted, lipid-modified glycoproteins that get their name from a portmanteau of the Wingless gene in Drosophila and the Integrated gene in vertebrates - both of which encode Wnt proteins.

This protein family regulates a conserved signaling pathway that controls numerous critical developmental events in all animals.

For example, Wnt has roles in cell fate determination - whether cells will survive, divide, or undergo apoptosis - as well as cell motility and polarity- and organogenesis and stem cell renewal.

There are 19 different Wnt proteins present in humans that can regulate genes through three different pathways.

In all three of these pathways, the signaling in the target cells is mediated via transmembrane receptors called Frizzled receptors - as well as coreceptors such as low-density lipoprotein related proteins, or LRPs.

The Wnt protein binds to these proteins to form a Wnt-Frizzled-coreceptor complex.

But at this point, the three pathways diverge.

The canonical pathway, known as the Wnt β-catenin pathway regulates the breakdown of the protein β-catenin, which plays an important role in the regulation of gene transcription and is also a crucial part