Publicaties

Activation of the canonical Wnt pathway leads to the transcriptional activation of a particular subset of downstream Wnt target genes. To track this localized cellular output in a living organism, reporter constructs can be designed containing multimerized consensus lymphoid enhancer binding factor (LEF)- 1/T cell factor (TCF) transcription factor binding sites, generally referred to as TCF optimal promoter (TOP) sites. In Xenopus , several ...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare, severe chronic autoimmune connective tissuedisease. The triad of vasculopathy, immunological abnormalities and fibrosischaracterizes the clinical and pathogenic picture. Fibrosis can affect the skin, but alsovarious internal organs, leading to architectural damage and organ failure. SSc is adisease with substantial mortality, of which the majority is caused by pulmonaryinvolvement, both pulmonary arterial ...

The canonical (13-catenin dependent) Wnt signaling pathway has emerged as a likely candidate for regulating tooth replacement in continuously renewing dentitions. So far, the involvement of canonical Wnt signaling has been experimentally demonstrated predominantly in amniotes. These studies tend to show stimulation of tooth formation by activation of the Wnt pathway, and inhibition of tooth formation when blocking the pathway. Here, we report a ...

Muscle stem cells and their progeny play a fundamental role in the regeneration of adult skeletal Muscle. We have previously shown that activation of the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in adult myogenic progenitors is required for their transition from rapidly dividing transient amplifying cells to more differentiated progenitors. Whereas Writ signaling in Drosophila is dependent on the presence of the coregulator Legless, previous ...

During embryonic development, a group of dividing blastomeres is ultimately shaped into a structured, functional organism. To achieve this goal, individual cells and groups of cells need to move to new positions, organize themselves, and differentiate into specialized cell types. In these processes, intercellular contacts and contacts between cells and their environment play critical roles. The cells interact physically via cell adhesion ...

TCF1 belongs to the family of LEF1/TCF transcription factors that regulate gene expression downstream of Wnt/b-catenin signaling, which is crucial for embryonic development and is involved in adult stem cell regulation and tumor growth. In early Xenopus embryos, tcf1 plays an important role in mesoderm induction and patterning. Foxd3 emerged as a potential tcf1 target gene in a microarray analysis of gastrula stage embryos. Because foxd3 and ...

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling plays a crucial role throughout all stages of brain development and remains important in the adult brain. Accordingly, many neurological disorders have been linked to Wnt signaling. Defects in Wnt signaling during neural development can give rise to birth defects or lead to neurological dysfunction later in life. Developmental signaling events can also be hijacked in the adult and result in disease. Moreover, knowledge ...

OBJECTIVE: Exostosin-1 (Ext1) encodes a glycosyltransferase required for heparan sulfate (HS) chain elongation in HS-proteoglycan biosynthesis. HS chains serve as binding partners for signaling proteins, affecting their distribution and activity. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway emerged as critical regulator of chondrogenesis. Yet, how EXT1 and HS affect Wnt/β-catenin signaling during chondrogenesis remains unexplored. METHOD: Ext1 was stably ...

Breast cancer is the most common and most deadly neoplastic disease among women worldwide. Triple-negative breast cancer is a subtype of breast cancer characterized by the lack of expression of hormone and growth factor receptors, highly aggressive clinical features, poor prognosis, and high relapse rates. The lack of hormone and growth factor receptors renders targeted therapies that are highly efficient in other breast cancer subtypes ...

The evolutionarily conserved Wnt signaling pathway regulates physiological hematopoiesis, a process of formation of blood cells and has been shown to play crucial role in the development of both myeloid and lymphoid malignancies. The Wnt signaling pathway can be broadly divided into canonical and non-canonical pathways. In the present study, we investigated the pathobiology of leukemia by studying the expression profile of Wnt proteins, ...