Canonical Wnt: a safeguard and threat for erythropoiesis

Abstract

Myeloid dysplastic syndrome (MDS) reflects a preleukemic BM disorder with limited treatment options and poor disease survival1. As only a minority of MDS patients is eligible to curative hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation, there is an urgent need to develop alternative treatment options. Chronic activation of Wnt/β-catenin has been implicated to underlie MDS formation and recently assigned to drive MDS transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Wnt/β-catenin signaling therefore may harbor a pharmaceutical target to treat MDS and/or prevent leukemia formation. However, targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway will also affect healthy hematopoiesis in MDS patients.The control of Wnt/β-catenin on healthy hematopoiesis is poorly understood. Whereas Wnt/β-catenin is dispensable for steady-state erythropoiesis, its activity is essential for stress erythropoiesis in response to BM injury and anemia. Manipulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in MDS may therefore deregulate stress erythropoiesis and even increase anemia severity. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of the most recent and established insights in the field to acquire more insight into the control of Wnt/β-catenin signaling on healthy and inefficient erythropoiesis as seen in MDS.