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The Marseille Cancer Research Center celebrates its 50th anniversary ! -

Jan 2015 Cell communication and signaling : CCS

Asymmetry of VANGL2 in migrating lymphocytes as a tool to monitor activity of the mammalian WNT/planar cell polarity pathway.

Authors

Kaucká M, Petersen J, Janovská P, Radaszkiewicz T, Smyčková L, Daulat AM, Borg JP, Schulte G, Bryja V

Summary

The WNT/planar-cell-polarity (PCP) pathway is a key regulator of cell polarity and directional cell movements. Core PCP proteins such as Van Gogh-like2 (VANGL2) are evolutionarily highly conserved; however, the mammalian PCP machinery is still poorly understood mainly due to lack of suitable models and quantitative methodology. WNT/PCP has been implicated in many human diseases with the most distinguished positive role in the metastatic process, which accounts for more than 90% of cancer related deaths, and presents therefore an attractive target for pharmacological interventions. However, cellular assays for the assessment of PCP signaling, which would allow a more detailed mechanistic analysis of PCP function and possibly also high throughput screening for chemical compounds targeting mammalian PCP signaling, are still missing.

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