Dickkopf Proteins and Their Role in Cancer: A Family of Wnt Antagonists with a Dual Role

Overview

Journal Pharmaceuticals (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Chemistry

Date 2021 Aug 28

PMID 34451907

Citations 9

Authors

Irina Giralt

Gabriel Gallo-Oller

Natalia Navarro

Patricia Zarzosa

Guillem Pons

Ainara Magdaleno

Miguel F Segura

Jose Sanchez de Toledo

Lucas Moreno

Soledad Gallego

Josep Roma

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Wnt signaling pathway regulates crucial aspects such as cell fate determination, cell polarity and organogenesis during embryonic development. Wnt pathway deregulation is a hallmark of several cancers such as lung, gastric and liver cancer, and has been reported to be altered in others. Despite the general agreement reached by the scientific community on the oncogenic potential of the central components of the pathway, the role of the antagonist proteins remains less clear. Deregulation of the pathway may be caused by overexpression or downregulation of a wide range of antagonist proteins. Although there is growing information related to function and regulation of Dickkopf (DKK) proteins, their pharmacological potential as cancer therapeutics still has not been fully developed. This review provides an update on the role of DKK proteins in cancer and possible potential as therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer; available compounds in pre-clinical or clinical trials are also reviewed.

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