Endocrine Abstracts

Our laboratory works on Wnt/β-catenin signaling in precursor and stem cells of various organs. The data show that Wnt/β-catenin controls cell lineage specification in embryogenesis and organogenesis. General interest sparked anew by recent evidence suggesting that organ as well as cancer stem cells share core signaling and transcriptional modules. We used genetic mouse models to study the necessity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in stem cells of the salivary gland. ...

Wnt-signaling has been discovered as a regulator of adipocyte biology, pancreatic β-cell proliferation and insulin secretion. In addition, this pathway has been implicated in the regulation of aldosterone and cortisol secretion by the adrenal cortex. There is evidence that Wnt-signaling molecules can mediate a crosstalk between adipocytes and endocrine cells like pancreatic β-cells and adrenocortical cells.In addition, the recent genome-wide as...

The concept of adipose tissue plasticity is well known, as is the fact that a positive energy balance drives increased adiposity in vivo. Less well accepted or indeed understood, are the molecular mechanisms that negatively regulate adipose tissue plasticity particularly under physiological and/or patho-physiological conditions. The latter is clearly relevant when one considers the possibility that there may be a limit in the extent to which adipose tissue can expand. O...