Sailing with the Wnt: charting the Wnt processing and secretion route

Abstract

Wnt proteins are members of a highly conserved family of signalling molecules that play a central role in development and disease. During the past years, the different signalling pathways that are triggered by Wnt proteins have been studied in detail, but it is still largely unknown how a functional Wnt protein is produced and secreted. The recent finding that Wnt proteins are post-translationally modified and the discovery of the Wnt binding protein Wntless and its trafficking by the retromer complex show that Wnt secretion is a complex and highly regulated process. In this review, we will give an overview of the Wnt maturation and secretion pathway and discuss how this process may influence the spreading and signalling activity of Wnt.