Therapeutic Potential of Targeting Wnt/-Catenin Pathway in Treatment of Colorectal Cancer: Rational and Progress

Wnt/-catenin pathway is one of the main/frequent dysregulated pathways in several tumor types, including colon cancer. Aberrant activation of this pathway is associated with cell proliferation, invasive behaviors, and cell resistance, suggesting its potential value as a therapeutic target in treatment of CRC. Several agents have been developed for targeting of this pathway (e.g, natural agents: curcumin, 3,3-diindolylmethane, phytoestrogen; Synthetic/small Wnt inhibitors: Rofecoxib; PRI-724, CWP232291; and monoclonal antibody against frizzled receptors, Vanituctumab). This review summarizes the current knowledge about the therapeutic potential of targeting Wnt pathway with particular emphasis on preclinical/clinical studies in treatment of colorectal cancer. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1979-1983, 2017. (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.