Food-derived natural compounds in the management of chronic diseases via Wnt signaling pathway

Abstract

Wnt signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that control embryonic development, adult tissue homeostasis, and pathological processes of organisms throughout life. However, dysregulation of the Wnt signaling is associated with the occurrence of chronic diseases. In comparison with the application of chemical drugs as traditional treatment for chronic diseases, dietary agents have unique advantages, such as less side effects, multiple targets, convenience in accessibility and higher acceptability in long-term intervention. In this review, we summarized current progress in manipulating the Wnt signaling using food components and its benefits in managing chronic diseases. The underlying mechanisms of bioactive food components in the management of the disease progression via the Wnt signaling was illustrated. Then, the review focused on the function of dietary pattern (which might act via combination of foods with multiple nutrients or food ingredients) on targeting Wnt signaling at multiple level. The potential caveats and challenges in developing new strategy via modulating Wnt-associated diseases with food-based agents and appropriate dietary pattern are also discussed in detail. This review shed light on the understanding of the regulatory effect of food bioactive components on chronic diseases management through the Wnt signaling, which can be expanded to other specific signaling pathway associated with disease.

Keywords:

• Functional food
• nutrients
• dietary pattern
• signaling pathway
• health

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figure 1. Overview of the relationship among dietary intervention, cell behavior, chronic disease, and Wnt signaling.

Figure 2. Inactivated canonical Wnt signaling (a) and activated canonical Wnt Signaling (b).

Figure 3. Dysregulation of the Wnt pathway is related to a variety of chronic diseases.

Figure 4. Bioactive food factors regulate Wnt signaling transduction.

Figure 5. The advantages and potential applications of novel dietary agents.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Guangdong Science and Technology Planning Project under Grant 2017B090901063; the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant 2018YFD0901101; and Research and Development Program in Key Areas of Guangdong Province under Grant 2019B020210002.