The Wnt signaling pathways are critical in cell-cell signaling during normal development and embryogenesis and required for maintenance of adult tissue, therefore it is not difficult to understand why disruption in Wnt signaling pathways can promote human degenerative disease and cancer.
The Wnt signaling pathways are complex, involving many different elements, and therefore have many targets for misregulation. Mutations that cause constitutive activation of the Wnt signaling pathway lead to tumor formation and cancer. Aberrant activation of the Wnt pathway can lead to increase cell proliferation. Current research is focused on the action of the Wnt signaling pathway the regulation of stem cell choice to proliferate and self renew. This action of Wnt signaling in the possible control and maintenance of stem cells, may provide a possible treatment in cancers exhibiting aberrant Wnt signaling.