Wnt Signaling in Liver Regeneration, Disease, and Cancer

Authors

Gengyi Zou
Jae-Il Park

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Journal

Clinical and Molecular Hepatology

Abstract

The liver exhibits the highest recovery rate from acute injuries. However, in chronic liver disease, the long-term loss of hepatocytes often leads to adverse consequences such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. The Wnt signaling plays a pivotal role in both liver regeneration and tumorigenesis. Therefore, manipulating the Wnt signaling has become an attractive approach to treating liver disease, including cancer. Nonetheless, given the crucial roles of Wnt signaling in physiological processes, blocking Wnt signaling can also cause several adverse effects. Recent studies have identified cancer-specific regulators of Wnt signaling, which would overcome the limitation of Wnt signaling target approaches. In this review, we discussed the role of Wnt signaling in liver regeneration, precancerous lesion, and liver cancer. Furthermore, we summarized the basic and clinical approaches of Wnt signaling blockade and proposed the therapeutic prospects of cancer-specific Wnt signaling blockade for liver cancer treatment.

Keywords

Humans, Wnt Signaling Pathway, Liver Regeneration, Liver Cirrhosis, Liver Neoplasms, beta Catenin, WNT signaling pathway, Liver regeneration, Liver diseases, Hepatocellular carcinoma

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Supplementary Materials

PMID: 35785913