Cited 85 times since 2012 (6.6 per year) source: EuropePMC Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology, Volume 4, Issue 4, 1 1 2012, Pages a007989 Wnt signaling, stem cells, and cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. Schepers A, Clevers H
The Wnt signaling pathway was originally uncovered as one of the prototype developmental signaling cascades in invertebrates as well as in vertebrates. The first indication that Wnt signaling also plays a role in the adult animal came from the study of the intestine of Tcf-4 (Tcf7L2) knockout mice. The gastrointestinal epithelium continuously self-renews over the lifetime of an organism and is, in fact, the most rapidly self-renewing tissue of the mammalian body. Recent studies indicate that Wnt signaling plays a central role in the biology of gastrointestinal stem cells. Furthermore, mutational activation of the Wnt cascade is the principle cause of colon cancer.
