Cited by 1.4k
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Publishes on Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer, Retinal Development and Disorders, Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling. 84 papers and 10k citations.
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This paper describes the identification of a new family of mammalian genes that encode secreted proteins containing homology to the cysteine-rich ligand-binding domain found in the frizzled family of transmembrane receptors. The secreted frizzled-related proteins (sFRPs) are approximately 30 kDa in size, and each contains a putative signal sequence, a frizzled-like cysteine-rich domain, and a conserved hydrophilic carboxy-terminal domain. The sFRPs are not the products of differential splicing of the known frizzled genes. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored derivatives of sFRP-2 and sFRP-3 produced in transfected human embryonic kidney cells confer cell-surface binding by the Drosophila Wingless protein. These observations suggest that sFRPs may function in vivo to modulate Wnt signaling, or, alternatively, as novel ligands for as yet unidentified receptors.