This week’s articles highlight colon cancer stem cells; cooperative signaling that maintains intestinal stem cell self-renewal; a newly developed Wnt agonist; and metabolic changes in endothelial cells that promote angiogenesis.
CANCER
Targeting colon cancer stem cells
Shimokawa et al. found that a specific subset of human colorectal cancer cells act as cancer stem cells and are targeted by combined chemotherapy.
PHARMACOLOGY
Functional Wnt agonists
Janda et al. developed agonists that stimulate Wnt signaling by forcing its receptor and co-receptor to heterodimerize in the absence of ligand.
STEM CELLS
Cooperation between Wnts and R-spondins
Yan et al. found that Wnt and R-spondin cooperate to control intestinal stem cell self-renewal but are not redundant.
VASCULAR BIOLOGY
FGF signaling and cellular metabolism
Yu et al. showed that FGF signaling promotes angiogenesis by stimulating glycolysis in endothelial cells.