Recent Development of Wnt Signaling Pathway Inhibitors for Cancer Therapeutics.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Review current understanding of both canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling in cancer and provide updated knowledge in current clinical trials of Wnt signaling drugs.

RECENT FINDINGS: Important roles of both canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling in cancer have been increasingly recognized. Recent clinical trials of several Wnt-signaling drugs have showed promising outcomes. In addition, some drugs that were originally approved for the treatment of other diseases have been recently found to block Wnt signaling, highlighting their potential to treat Wnt-dependent cancer. Dysfunction of Wnt signaling is implicated in cancer, and targeting Wnt signaling represents a useful approach to treat cancer. Current clinical trials of Wnt signaling drugs have showed promising outcomes, and repurposing the previously approved drugs for other diseases to treat Wnt-dependent cancer requires further studies.