Scope of Wnt signaling in the precise diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer

The therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine on breast cancer through modulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

“…The Wnt protein family, a collection of secreted lipid-modified glycoproteins ( Oh et al, 2023 ), is instrumental in orchestrating a range of biological activities, from cell adhesion ( Schambony et al, 2004 ; Astudillo and Larrain, 2014 ) and migration ( Tuttle et al, 2014 ; Chai et al, 2019 ) to proliferation ( Tang et al, 2019 ; Bertozzi et al, 2022 ), differentiation ( Matsumoto et al, 2023 ), and survival ( Jia et al, 2019 ). The Wnt signaling cascade bifurcates into two main branches: the canonical or classical Wnt pathway ( Figure 2 ), commonly referred to as the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and the non-canonical Wnt pathway, which further branches into the Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway and the Wnt/Ca 2+ pathway ( Koni et al, 2020 ; Azbazdar et al, 2021 ; Patel et al, 2023 ) ( Figures 2A, B ). While these pathways have varying dependencies on β-catenin, together they form an intricate regulatory network.…”

“…Breast cancer, stemming from the epithelial tissue of the mammary gland, has witnessed a steady surge in its incidence in recent years ( Ni et al, 2022 ; Guo et al, 2023 ; Patel et al, 2023 ), solidifying its position as the foremost cancer afflicting women ( Hashemi et al, 2023 ). As we delve deeper into the intricacies of this disease, it becomes evident that the Wnt signaling pathway stands at the crossroads of our understanding.…”