Targeting Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway for Drug Therapy

Abstract

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, including canonical or noncanonical pathway, is a highly conserved pathway which can regulate cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, and apoptosis. The Wnt pathway has been shown to undergo aberrant activation in various cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. Wnt-targeted therapy attracted attention in a significant area of developmental therapeutics. Extensive efforts have been made to develop small-molecule drugs to inhibit the pathway for the treatment of various diseases. These small molecules disrupt protein-protein interactions in key parts of the pathway. Here, we review current indications for drug therapy and some problems in the treatment process that may be addressed in future investigations.

Keywords

• Wingless and Int-1
• β-Catenin
• Target therapy
• Small-molecule inhibitor