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Updated: Nov 5, 2025

The Soft Agar Colony Formation Assay
Published on: October 27, 2014
WNT Ligand Dependencies in Pancreatic Cancer
Kristina Y Aguilera1, David W Dawson1,2
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Abstract:
WNT signaling promotes the initiation and progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) through wide-ranging effects on cellular proliferation, survival, differentiation, stemness, and tumor microenvironment. Of therapeutic interest is a genetically defined subset of PDAC known to have increased WNT/β-catenin transcriptional activity, growth dependency on WNT ligand signaling, and response to pharmacologic inhibitors of the WNT pathway. Here we review mechanisms underlying WNT ligand addiction in pancreatic tumorigenesis, as well as the potential utility of therapeutic approaches that functionally antagonize WNT ligand secretion or frizzled receptor binding.
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