WNT Signaling

The WNT family of secreted growth factors regulates the developmental processes of cell fate and polarity, as well as general cell maintenance processes such as homeostasis and cell cycle regulation. The WNT ligands bind to frizzled receptor family members and activate one of 3 WNT pathways: the canonical pathway, planar cell polarity (PCP), or a calcium ion-dependent pathway. The well-studied canonical WNT pathway signals through β-catenin and regulates cell cycle, cell growth, and proliferation. The PCP pathway regulates cytoskeletal dynamics and cell motility, and the WNT/calcium pathway promotes NFAT transcription; both pathways operate independently of β-catenin signaling. Dysregulation of WNT signal transduction is associated with cancer and developmental diseases.

QIAGEN provides a broad range of assay technologies for WNT signaling research that enables analysis of gene expression and regulation, epigenetic modification, genotyping, and signal transduction pathway activation. Solutions optimized for WNT signaling studies include PCR array, miRNA, siRNA, mutation analysis, pathway reporter, chromatin IP, DNA methylation, and protein expression products.