Wnt signaling in development and disease

The Wnt signaling pathway is one of the central morphogenic signaling pathways regulating early vertebrate development. In recent years, it has become clear that the Wnt pathway also regulates many aspects of nervous system development from the patterning stage through the regulation of neural plasticity. In this review, we first present an overview of the components of the Wnt signaling pathway and then go on to discuss the literature describing the multitude of roles of Wnts in nervous system. In the latter portion of the review, we turn to the ways that defects in Wnt signaling lead to neurologic disease.