Wnt signaling is implicated in bone formation and activated in breast cancer cells promoting primary and metastatic tumor growth. A compelling question is whether osteogenic miRNAs that increase Wnt activity for bone formation are aberrantly expressed in breast tumor cells to support metastatic bone disease. Here we report that miR-218-5p is highly expressed in bone metastases from breast cance...

Background: Identification of breast cancer stem cells as the chemo-resistant and tumor-initiating population represents an important milestone in approaching anticancer therapies. Targeting this minor subpopulation of chemo- and radio-resistant stem-like cells, termed as the cancer stem cells (CSCs) and their eradication could significantly enhance clinical outcomes. Most of the presently admi...

Background: Many pregnancies in the United States are associated with maternal calorie overconsumption. Few data exist that track the impact of maternal and offspring calorie consumption on the risks for obesity development. Methods: To determine the effects of maternal calorie intake during gestation on programming for adiposity in the offspring, pregnant gilts were fed either a normal (NE) or...

cells occupy the innermost layer of the cerebral cortex and are synapsed upon by mossy fibers that originate from the pontine nuclei as well as other somatosensory centers. Several features of in vivo synapse formation at the mossy fiber–granule cell synapse are recapitu-lated in this culture system, including a characteristic enlargement of the mossy fiber growth cone that pre-Presynaptic diff...

WNT signals are transduced to the canonical pathway for cell fate determination, and to the noncanonical pathway for control of cell movement and tissue polarity. Canonical WNT signals are transduced through Frizzled family receptors and LRP5/LRP6 coreceptor to the beta-catenin signaling cascade. Microtubule affinity-regulating kinase (PAR-1) family kinases, casein kinase I epsilon (CKI epsilon...

The Receptor Tyrosine kinase (RTK) and TGF-β signaling pathways play essential roles during development in many organisms and regulate a plethora of cellular responses. From the genome sequence of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, we have made an inventory of the genes encoding receptor tyrosine kinases and their ligands, and of the genes encoding cytokines of the TGF-β superfamily and their downs...

Molecules labeled in green and blue play positive and negative roles in Wnt/β-catenin signaling, respectively. Molecules that are labeled in both colors have dual roles. (Top left) Wnt biogenesis. A lipid modification is added to Wnt ligands by Porc in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Wnt ligands are glycosylated in the ER and Golgi and require Wls (also known as Evi) to traffic through the Golg...

Regions of the short arm of chromosome 8 are deleted frequently in a range of solid tumors, indicating that tumor suppressor genes reside at these loci. In this study, we have examined the properties of the Wnt signaling antagonist secreted frizzled-related protein (sFRP) 1 as a candidate for this role at c8p11.2. An initial survey of 10 colorectal tumors, selected by the presence of isolated s...

Chondrogenesis is a co-ordinated differentiation process in which mesenchymal cells condensate, differentiate into chondrocytes and begin to secrete molecules that form the extracellular matrix. It is regulated in a spatio-temporal manner by cellular interactions and growth and differentiation factors that modulate cellular signalling pathways and transcription of specific genes. Moreover, post...