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Review
. 2016 Apr 19:5:F1000 Faculty Rev-699.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.7579.1. eCollection 2016.

Wnt signaling in cancer stem cells and colon cancer metastasis

Sayon Basu #  1 , Gal Haase #  1 , Avri Ben-Ze'ev  1
Affiliations
Review

Wnt signaling in cancer stem cells and colon cancer metastasis

Sayon Basu et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

Overactivation of Wnt signaling is a hallmark of colorectal cancer (CRC). The Wnt pathway is a key regulator of both the early and the later, more invasive, stages of CRC development. In the normal intestine and colon, Wnt signaling controls the homeostasis of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) that fuel, via proliferation, upward movement of progeny cells from the crypt bottom toward the villus and differentiation into all cell types that constitute the intestine. Studies in recent years suggested that cancer stem cells (CSCs), similar to ISCs of the crypts, consist of a small subpopulation of the tumor and are responsible for the initiation and progression of the disease. Although various ISC signature genes were also identified as CRC markers and some of these genes were even demonstrated to have a direct functional role in CRC development, the origin of CSCs and their contribution to cancer progression is still debated. Here, we describe studies supporting a relationship between Wnt-regulated CSCs and the progression of CRC.

Keywords: Lgr5; Wnt; cancer stem cells; colorectal cancer; intestinal stem cells; β-catenin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

No competing interests were disclosed.

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