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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2023; 29(18): 2764-2783
Published online May 14, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i18.2764
Wingless/It/β-catenin signaling in liver metastasis from colorectal cancer: A focus on biological mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities
Federico Selvaggi, Teresa Catalano, Rossano Lattanzio, Roberto Cotellese, Gitana Maria Aceto
Federico Selvaggi, Department of Surgical, ASL2 Lanciano-Vasto-Chieti, Ospedale Clinicizzato SS Annunziata of Chieti, Chieti 66100, Italy
Teresa Catalano, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina 98125, Italy
Rossano Lattanzio, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine & Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Chieti 66100, Italy
Roberto Cotellese, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Chieti 66100, Italy
Roberto Cotellese, Villa Serena Foundation for Research, Villa Serena - Del Dott. L. Petruzzi, Città Sant’Angelo 65013, Pescara, Italy
Gitana Maria Aceto, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti 66100, Italy
Author contributions: Aceto GM conceptualized and designed the study; Selvaggi F and Aceto GM developed the first draft, refined, edited, and revised the manuscript; Catalano T, Lattanzio R and Cotellese R contributed to the content materials and final editing; Aceto GM and Selvaggi F designed the images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gitana Maria Aceto, MSc, PhD, Research Scientist, Senior Lecturer, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini, Chieti 66100, Italy. gitana.aceto@unich.it
Received: January 23, 2023
Peer-review started: January 23, 2023
First decision: February 7, 2023
Revised: February 28, 2023
Accepted: April 17, 2023
Article in press: April 17, 2023
Published online: May 14, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: The liver is the most common site of metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer. Wingless/It (Wnt)/β-catenin signals can drive progression and metastatization by epithelial-mesenchymal transition/mesenchymal-epithelial transition. In the hepatic microenvironment, metastatic cells can survive through dormancy and become refractory to therapy. Further studies are needed to elucidate involvement of Wnt signaling in the development of colorectal liver metastases and to improve current surgical and non-surgical therapeutic approaches.