Balancing signals in the intestinal niche

Abstract

During intestinal regeneration, opposing gradients of Wnt and BMP signaling ensure successful differentiation along the crypt/villus axis. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Horiguchi et al (2017) show how intestinal subepithelial myofibroblasts can influence cell fate decisions in the regenerating intestine via autocrine secretion of angiopoietin‐like protein 2 (ANGPTL2).