Enteroendocrine precursors differentiate independently of Wnt and form serotonin expressing adenomas in response to active β-catenin

The role of Hes genes in intestinal development, homeostasis and tumor formation

“…In the adult intestine, Wnt signaling regulates the development of goblet cells and Paneth cells via Sox9 (Ireland et al, 2004;Bastide et al, 2007;Mori-Akiyama et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2007), whereas BMP signaling mainly controls the development of enteroendocrine cells (Auclair et al, 2007). Therefore, it is likely that, in the large intestine of Hes1/3/5 cKO mice, progenitors migrating to the lumen lose Sox9 expression and differentiate into enteroendocrine cells as well as absorptive cells, whereas secretory progenitors moving to the crypt base differentiate into Paneth cells or goblet cells under the control of Wnt signaling via Sox9.…”

Recent insights into the integration of the intestinal epithelium within the mucosal environment in health and disease

“…Enteroendocrine cell di erentiation exempli es this regulation. 6 In addition, extracellular matrix and vascular and neural elements in uence IECs. The luminal environment, including ingested nutrients, pancreaticobiliary and intestinal secretions, and the microbiome / commensal bacteria, also influences epithelial growth and di erentiation.…”

WNT/β-catenin increases the production of incretins by entero-endocrine cells

“…We investigated whether WNT signalling controls Gip expression, promoting incretin production in general. This is important because although WNT is known to be critical for development and maintenance of gut epithelial cells [24,25], its role in entero-endocrine differentiation remains obscure. We identified a functional TCF/LEF binding site, which is strongly conserved in mouse, rat and humans, and regulated by WNT/β-catenin and lithium in mouse Gip promoter.…”