Wnt signaling in bone and muscle

• Canonical Wnt signaling is critical for normal bone and muscle development.
• Non-canonical Wnt pathways are key to muscle repair processes associated with satellite cells.
• Understanding of these processes will be critical for developing effective therapeutic strategies.

Wnt signaling plays key roles in many aspects of development. In this review, we will briefly describe the components of signaling pathways induced by Wnt ligands and then describe the current state of research as this applies to aspects of development and disease as it relates to skeletal muscle and bone. We will conclude with a discussion of the parallels and differences in Wnt signaling in these two contexts and how these pathways are being (or could potentially be) targeted for therapeutic treatment of musculoskeletal diseases.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Muscle Bone Interactions”.