Disease relevance of Wnt2

• Notch and Wnt signaling in T-lymphocyte development and acute lymphoblastic leukemia [1].
• These are the Notch and Wnt-signaling routes, which both are deregulated in several types of leukemias [1].
• Deregulation of the Wg/Wnt pathway has been causally linked to several forms of cancer, most notably to colorectal cancer [2].
• Recent studies have suggested an association between excess signaling through the canonical Wnt pathway and osteoarthritis (OA) [3].
• Aberrant Wnt signaling impacts nearly the entire spectrum of human disease, including birth defects, cancer, and osteoporosis [4].

Psychiatry related information on Wnt2

• In addition, several components of the Wnt-dependent signaling pathways appear to play important roles in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and in the emerging field of stem cell research [5].

High impact information on Wnt2

• We report here that DWnt-2, a secreted glycoprotein related to wingless, is a signal required for cell fate determination and morphogenesis in the developing male reproductive tract [6].
• DWnt-2 is expressed in somatic cells of the gonad throughout development, implicating it as a signal that can influence pigment cell fate directly [6].
• Testes from DWnt-2 null mutant flies lack the male-specific pigment cells of the reproductive tract sheath and the muscle precursors of the sheath fail to migrate normally [6].
• The Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway is critical in both cellular proliferation and organismal development [7].
• Diversin also affects planar cell polarity in Drosophila, which is controlled by the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway [8].

Biological context of Wnt2

• Wnt ligands have pleiotropic and context-specific roles in embryogenesis and adult tissues [9].
• DWnt-2 and DWnt-3 map to chromosome 2 position 45E and chromosome X position 17A/B, respectively [10].
• Recent work in cell culture has suggested that phosphorylation of Dsh by Casein Kinase I epsilon (CKIepsilon) may act as a molecular "switch," promoting Wnt/beta-catenin while inhibiting Fz/PCP signaling [11].
• The amenability of Drosophila for genetic manipulation and analysis of ocular phenotypes has delivered a great deal of information about the roles of the Wnt/Fzd signaling pathways at various stages of ocular development and growth, particularly in regulating the formation and size of the eye field, cell proliferation, polarity and differentiation [12].
• Developmental stage-specific biphasic roles of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in cardiomyogenesis and hematopoiesis [13].

Anatomical context of Wnt2

• The distribution of DWnt-2 transcripts is predominantly segmented, with the additional presence of transcripts in the presumptive gonads [10].
• DWnt-2 is expressed in the epithelium of the wing hinge primordium during pupation [14].
• Although the expression pattern of DWnt-2 suggests that it could influence epithelial cells to differentiate into attachment sites for muscle, the expression of stripe, a transcription factor necessary for epithelial cells to adopt an attachment cell fate, is unaltered in the mutant [14].
• As the LG4-LG5 domain of the alpha4 chain is cleaved in vivo from the main body of laminin-8 (alpha4beta1gamma1), we suggest that the heparan sulphate proteoglycan-binding activity of LG4 is significant in modulating the signalling of Wnt, Decapentaplegic and fibroblast growth factors [15].
• Our murine model provides a useful platform to study human MDS/AML transformation, as well as the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway's role in the pathogenesis of leukemia stem cells [16].

Associations of Wnt2 with chemical compounds

• The putative translation product of DWnt-2 and the carboxy-terminal half of the deduced DWnt-3 product are both rich in conserved cysteine residues [10].
• CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that articular chondrocytes respond to canonical Wnt stimulation, and that reduced sulfation or CS content diminishes that response [3].

Other interactions of Wnt2

• We find that the seven DWnt genes vary in their effectiveness in specific tissues, such as the tracheae, and, moreover, the epidermis and the tracheae respond to DWnt2 and Wg differently [17].
• We show that this process is largely dependent on Sox9 function as Wnt-mediated neural crest induction is inhibited in the context of Sox9-depleted embryos [18].

References