The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in the tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Kaiting Wang; Xinyao Qiu; Yan Zhao; Hongyang Wang; Lei Chen

doi:10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2021.0306

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in the tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Cancer Biol Med. 2021 Oct 1;19(3):305-318. doi: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2021.0306. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kaiting Wang¹, Xinyao Qiu², Yan Zhao¹, Hongyang Wang^{3

4}, Lei Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
² Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
³ Institute of Metabolism & Integrative Biology (IMIB), Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
⁴ The International Cooperation Laboratory on Signal Transduction, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.

PMID: 34591416
PMCID: PMC8958883
DOI: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2021.0306

Abstract

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway regulates many aspects of tumor biology, and many studies have focused on the role of this signaling pathway in tumor cells. However, it is now clear that tumor development and metastasis depend on the two-way interaction between cancer cells and their environment, thereby forming a tumor microenvironment (TME). In this review, we discuss how Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates cross-interactions among different components of the TME, including immune cells, stem cells, tumor vasculature, and noncellular components of the TME in hepatocellular carcinoma. We also investigate their preclinical and clinical insights for primary liver cancer intervention, and explore the significance of using Wnt/β-catenin mutations as a biomarker to predict resistance in immunotherapy.

Keywords: HCC; Wnt/β-catenin signaling; immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding