Recombinant Human WNT-7a (carrier-free)

The WNT protein family has a highly conserved cystein-rich structure, associated with the extracellular matrix (ECM) with high affinity through binding to heparin sulfate glycoproteins. They are carried intercellularly by lipoproteins and mediate signaling activity by binding to transmembrane Frizzled receptors and low-density-related proteins (LRP). They elicit a variety of responses through canonical or non-canonical (PCP or Ca++) pathways. There are two subtypes of WNT-7 that have been identified, WNT-7a and WNT-7b.

WNT-7a is a secreted cell surface signaling protein that controls a set of pathways that act on cell fate determination and tissue patterning during embryogenesis. It is known that WNT-7a can modulate the development of the uterus, cerebellum and limbs, while WNT-7b is important in lung and placental development. The human amino acid sequence of WNT-7a shares high similarity (99.4%) with mouse WNT-7a. Signals transduced through WNT-7a and its receptor are found to be critical for female organ development, maintaining levels of female sex hormones and the development of oviduct and uterus. Receptors for WNT-7a include frizzled-5, frizzled-7 and frizzled-10. WNT-7a binds to frizzled-7 to induce signaling through SKT/ mTOR pathway in order to further modulate myofibers in a G-protein dependent PI3K pathway.

During muscle cell regeneration, WNT-7a in the ECM along with transiently raised fibronectin levels in the stem cell niche can bind the frizzled-7/Sdc4 receptor complex and synergistically induce symmetric divisions of satellite stem cells. Also, in neurogenesis and chondrogenesis, WNT-7a contributes both in regulating and maintaining the level of lineage differentiation factors required to support apoptosis / cell death through binding of different receptors and interactions with ECM proteins.