Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 25, 2026

Modeling Paracrine Noncanonical Wnt Signaling In Vitro
Published on: December 10, 2021
A monoclonal antibody against Wnt-1 induces apoptosis in human cancer cells
Biao He1, Liang You, Kazutsugu Uematsu
1Thoracic Oncology Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA.
Abstract:
Aberrant activation of the Wingless-type (Wnt)/beta-catenin signaling pathway is associated with a variety of human cancers. Little is known regarding the role that Wnt ligands play in human carcinogenesis. To test whether a Wnt-1 signal is a survival factor in human cancer cells and thus may serve as a potential cancer therapeutic target, we investigated the effect of inhibition of Wnt-1 signaling in a variety of human cancer cell lines, including non small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, and sarcoma. Both monoclonal antibody and RNA interference (RNAi) were used to inhibit Wnt-1 signaling. We found that incubation of a monoclonal anti-Wnt-1 antibody induced apoptosis and caused downstream protein changes in cancer cells overexpressing Wnt-1. In contrast, apoptosis was not detected in cells lacking or having minimal Wnt-1 expression after the antibody incubation. RNAi targeting of Wnt-1 in cancer cells overexpressing Wnt-1 demonstrated similar downstream protein changes and induction of apoptosis. The antibody also suppressed tumor growth in vivo. Our results indicate that both monoclonal anti-Wnt-1 antibody and Wnt-1 siRNA inhibit Wnt-1 signaling and can induce apoptosis in human cancer cells. These findings hold promise as a novel therapeutic strategy for cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway
Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways
The Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against specific...
Apoptosis
The Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathway