Protein Wnt-10b (formerly Wnt12) is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''WNT10B''

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

. The WNT gene family consists of structurally related genes that encode secreted

signaling proteins In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) is the process by which a cell interacts with itself, other cells, and the environment. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellular life in both prokaryotes and eukaryot ...

. These proteins have been implicated in

oncogenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abno ...

and in several developmental processes, including regulation of cell fate and patterning during

embryogenesis An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male ...

. This gene is a member of the WNT gene family. It may be involved in

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, and its protein signaling is, it is presumed, a molecular switch that governs

adipogenesis Adipogenesis is the formation of adipocytes (fat cells) from stem cells. It involves 2 phases, determination, and terminal differentiation. Determination is mesenchymal stem cells committing to the adipocyte precursor cells, also known as lipoblast ...

. Gain-of-function of Wnt10b in mouse hearts has shown to improve cardiac tissue repair after

myocardial Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall of ...

injury, by promoting coronary vessel formation and attenuating pathological fibrosis.Paik DT, Rai M, Ryzhov S, Sanders LN, Aisagbonhi O, Funke MJ, Feoktistov I, Hatzopoulos AK. Wnt10b gain-of-function improves cardiac repair by arteriole formation and attenuation of fibrosis. Circ Res. 2015; 117:804-816. This protein is 96% identical to the mouse Wnt10b protein at the

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

level. This gene is clustered with another family member, WNT1, in the chromosome 12q13 region.

References

Further reading